New York Deathbed
Written by Joshua Craig Beytien
In 1945 on a cold winter night at New York City, the entire town was in a grip of a hair-raising horror,
a horror that shuttered the nerves off of cocky ladies and swinging tuxedos,
running in full panic down every street and every roadway.
What were they running from were fearsome fiery lines of red fire that burned and destructed everything in their paths.
But it wasn't just the fire that struck the city.
There was a armada of very old and ancient creatures and dinosaurs, stampeding and trampling down the streets in a frantic fear, causing a rumble on the concrete that shivered the townspeople out of their wits.
Massive long-necked sauropods ampled in a panicking pace while running along aside them were duck-billed hadrosaurs with long pole-like crests on their heads.
Crashing and banging the cars out of the way were giant, brawny ceratopsians in a hysterical and furious rage.
One spiny-backed sauropod and a enormous-horned rhinoceros were on the streets too, trampling and smashing cars and people as they ran in panic.
Close behind the giant dinosaurs were also massive theropods and ferocious reptiles in their wild pursue on their prey and full away from the flames.
The biggest of these were three tyrannosaurs with three fingers and massive blade-like jaws, gobbling the poor hapless people as they stomped around in a furious matter.
The smallest of the runaway frantic carnivores were slender-looking dromaeosaurs with lethal claws as they catch and slaughtered a number of other people including the Christmas carolers.
But the toughest of them all were terrestrial crocodiles, archosaurs and other massive predatory reptiles; attacking everything in their way, spreading horror and fear to everything they gobbled up.
Yet the most destructive massive animal was a gigantic brown-furred gorilla, pounding and punching whatever stood in its path as the giant gorilla left more destruction behind.
Up above the fiery towers and destruction was the most fearsome creature that petrified every person and every panicking dinosaur in New York; a enormous dark-red dragon with great wings and a spiny tail.
Up and down the dragon flew, spatting fiery shoots on town squares and street corners, causing all of this hysteria and panic for all the denizens below - including the oldest, ancient creatures around town.
Then came the entire U.S. army in their determination to destroy all the rampaging monsters at New York City, armed with firearms and munitions.
Military airplanes were equal as well, first came the tail gunners shooting the terrestrial reptiles down to their body-sides.
Then came the ball-turrets to pin down the dragon as a aerial chase of B-24 and beast began around the skies above New York City.
Tanks and soldiers were everywhere on the street, shooting and blasting predators and monstrous reptiles like a team of game hunters.
Bombs and guns were sounded all across the middle of New York, causing a echo of war on all the dinosaurs and reptiles, including the giant ape and a monstrous-sized elephant.
Eventually the dragon above had its wings gun-shot on the right, causing the fiery monster to fall onto the concrete near the Empire State Building.
Before the dragon could get its feet to escape, three tyrannosaurs attacked by surprise, followed by a pack of dromaeosaurs.
Overpowered by a gang of murderous theropods, the dragon was forced around the fight through a series of bites and claws until the fiery flyer fell to its legs in defeat.
At that moment, the giant ape appeared out of nowhere; crushing and killing the dragon's murderers before it was eventually shot by the army.
Even though the dragon's fire had ended, all the panicking dinosaurs and reptiles from a unknown land were continously stampeding around town until they were finally hunted down by the whole army.
By morning, the carnage and destruction was over.
But the damage was done, leaving a surprising number of destruction left behind on every street and corner of New York City.
In the midst of this grimly event, laid a dozen of giant dinosaurs, mammals and reptiles in the center of New York.
Only fifty-eight were dead, all of them; shot and battled to the death.
Photographs of the ultimate slaughter hit the news wire and send shockwaves around the world, not only sending a massive impact to the scientific community about a startling discovery but the most subsequent tragic loss of a ancient animal group.
The creatures confirmed to be dead were 48 dinosaurs, 6 mammals, 2 reptiles, 1 terror bird, 1 pterosaur and 1 dragon.
There were five left behind at the massacre as well; 1 stegosaur was drowned in a icy pond at Central Pack.
1 pterosaur was killed by three flying hairless rodents before they were shot.
And 1 terror bird was killed after being run-over by a motor car on the streets.
This number of dead animals had herald the grimmest massacre of the century since the many war times long ago.
No one knew where these older ancient creatures had come from, neither why would they come to New York for destruction.
It was during the investigation of the dead animals and explanation of their appearance, two bodies were found from Central Park.
One body was examinated, revealing to be a Japanese general named Katu Kiroshi; wanted by Interpol for overconquering small countries during WWII.
The second body was examinated, revealing to be a American archaeologist adventurer named John Ferguson; prominent-known for some of the most daring quests retrieving sacred treasures around the world.
How did John ended in the New York Massacre remained a mystery.
Why would he also put himself into the death-ending perils among dinosaurs and reptiles that were thought to be extinct?
One answer came from three witnesses and cohorts:
a young Irish sailor from the tramper "Scout",
a 25 year old woman prostitute from Thailand,
and a 11 year old Soviet Union who happened to be Ferguson's faithful little sidekick.
What they explained was not only their heroic cohort's history, but especially the explanation of how the animal massacre started from nowhere to New York.
John Ferguson was born in 1899 when he was raised by a propsperous family of archaeologists, traveling the world with his parents on his father's global lecture tour from 1908 to 1910.
As a young man in the mid and later 1910s, he was eventually put into a brutal world of war at the time of the first world war.
He succeeded his survival throughout the war without even a single casuality, making a young John Ferguson into a fearless dashing figure.
A figure you would expect to see John with a deeper knowledge of ancient civilizations and languages, but also with a strong aversion for bats.
Yet all and all, John worked as archaeology professor at the Marshall University in addition to his role.
Throughout his adult hood, he'd been very successful for his treasure-hunting around the world.
In 1941, he captured a orphaned Soviet Union during the Battle of Kiev when the Nazis assaulted the Western part of Eurasia.
He named the orphan; "Bjorn" which was German for the term 'bear'.
Since that time, Bjorn became a immigrating sidekick for John, following his treasure-hunting adventures for five years.
But there was one adventure that would last forever, not only putting John's adventurous treasure-hunting to the test but also the final labor that would cause his life.
It happened in the late 1944 at the Marshall University when John received the words of a old treasure map being found by the local seafarers.
The map appeared to be unusual because it showed a unnamed island at the position of the Indian Archipelago; never charted or found in any other maps in the world.
What was more the map showed a black mark of a "X", indicating that some kind of treasure had laid there on the island.
Intrigued by this discovery, John decided to inspect the island so that he would get the information before another treasure hunt would ensued.
Yet even as newly adventurous as it looked and sounded, our hero had received rumors that the island wasn't as easy as he'd ever done recently.
First the words got to him that the island had been confirmed to unstable and hostile; not only afflicted by magnetic anomalies or sea storms, but because this island was named "Blood Island", entirely home for the rarest and most ancient fauna (once believed to be extinct).
Then a diary from one of the explorer's expedition had been demonstrated to John, showing him the catalogues and studies of Blood Island.
It was once the part of Gondwanaland before cut off through millions of years after the prehistoric times had passed from the Cretaceous to the Holocene.
As Blood Island was apart from its former landmass, it shrank dramatically as the sea swallowed most of the habitation until it drowned to eternity.
Over time, when the island was slowly sinking, it finally halted to a position where it laid exactly as the map had shown.
In its prehistory when Blood Island was broken away from Gondwanaland, several ancient ancestors of the island's modern inhabitants maintained the safety of their refuge, guaranteeing their survival when catastrophic climate change cleaned them out of all the continents in the world, leaving the very last race of prehistoric animals in their haven.
Other species of animal joined the island later, either from rafting, swimming or flying to the sanctuary.
Land bridges appeared and vanished, bringing new fauna as each of them were added to the island's diversity.
Over the millennia when the island was slowly sinking, life was being pushed into adaption where the animals were forced to maintain their new existence, resulting in an complex ecosystem of grim and nightmarish creatures - all descended from their predecessors.
Finally a major discovery in a handful of papers came to John on his trip to Southern Asia.
Blood Island was certainly the only refuge for ancient creatures, but what the scientific community realized it wasn't just a island of the lost monsters.
This island was also the place where an 3,000 year old advanced civilization of colonists migrated from Southeast Asia to Blood Island, revered a established culture as it was evidenced by the great stony statues and extraordinary shards of pottery left behind.
They were the devoted culture who revered a colony of oversized apes that abounded throughout the art.
Several theorists speculated that the apes were migrating with the colonists, alluding to a symbiosis between the mysterious people and the ancestors of giant gorillas.
Some domesticated animals from the colonists that came with them were gaurs, elephants and other apes.
But when the ancient culture eventually passed into eternity, all that were left behind were gigantic eroding ruins and the domesticated animals that were banished into their new existence, evolving bigger to withstand the perils of Blood Island as time went by.
There was one more discovery however when John arrived at the Southern port of Mynamar.
A old salt explained about his experience at Blood Island in his early-days of sea-faring; the island he told had a deep dark secret hiddened for as recently as 300 years ago.
At that time, a ruthless band of pirates held up in the precise island for looting over a hundred ships on record, relentlessly pursued by government troops.
These pirates were so heavily laid with their ill-gotten games, they had to buried their treasure-hoard before making their departure.
However, their ship was miraculously swallowed by a angry sea storm, crashing the boat into the waters below, leaving the stranded band of pirates.
Forced to survive their new surroundings they'd chose to bury their treasure, a lost band of pirates was now pulled into a new life at a secluded spot on the coast which they called it, "Red Death Lagoon".
Venturing through a town of pirates was extremely dangerous as the perils of Blood Island that lay ahead, but it was worth the risk to retrieve a 300 year old treasure.
Yet before the most dangerous treasure hunt could start, John had received words that a local crime boss in Mynamar who was involved in the sacred treasure as well.
The suspect was named Lao Long, until recently it was learned that this particular criminal was a secret spy from a Japanese army; led by a mysterious battle tycoon called Katu Kiroshi.
Although the tramper "S.S. Scout" was due to depart at 9 pm for the treasure hunt, John had to make a quick careful study on the two suspects.
For example; Katu had a impressive criminal record:
Over the years, he overconquered small countries around the world for usually the highest bidder. He was a powerful mercenary plus a military strategist of the highest order. In fact, he'd once explained he could overconquer small territories with an army of war elephants - dressed in weapon-proof armor. According to his file, this foe had mysteriously vanished as the authorities were closing in, to capture one of the Japanese generals for the government.
And now, this Katu from the enemy was on the verge of conquering Blood Island for some purpose which may result in a disastrous act on the Americans.
Up to now, Lao Long was first-in-line to inspect the whereabouts and plans for Katu when John disguised himself as a tuxedo patron at the canteen.
To sweeten the deal, Lao had recently hired John to retrieve and return the cremated ashes of one of his forefathers, only to attempt to cheat and assassinate John out of his fee; a 300 year old treasure map which would only lead to the hidden pirate's loot.
Thus, a daring getaway took place, out of the canteen and onto a motor car driven by Bjorn who arrived on schedule.
Yet it wasn't just John who swiped the map, he also happened to brought a former 25 year old prostitute in tow from a local pimp.
Fleeing through the crowded streets like a runaway train, our hero made his successful way to the awaiting S.S. Scout ready to depart.
With one swing of action before leaving, John had lashed down Lao's henchmen with his powerful whip (which he possessed for many risky getaways in action).
Soon the voyage for the perils of Blood Island set off, carrying our hero and two cohorts to who knew what dangers lay ahead.
Through the Southern seas of the Asiatic archipelago the tramper sailed, over the deep blue sea at the great length journey to the remote Blood Island.
During this trip however, the captain on board began to develop secondary thoughts about the voyage, prompted by his crew speculation of what danger would led into.
One night in the midst of the voyage, the Scout had intercepted a radio message informing that Lao was hot on the trail, this time accompanied by Katu for the treasure map retrieval.
Suspicious about the unexpected tail on this voyage, the captain of the Scout steered right into a cloud of fog - hoping that nothing else could happen to him or his crew.
It wasn't until three hours later through the foggy night, the Scout had reached the destination of Blood Island itself on the rocky shore.
But the tramper had also ran aground on a stony sea stack where the left side of the ship was damaged by the rocks.
By morning while the ship's crew carry out the repairs and lighten the load, John set out on exploring the forbidden coast for his first hazard across the treasure hunt.
Bjorn was right behind him with a handful of volunteers and safari-explorers who were also on the expedition for the second incursion of the island.
Now the coast around them was unlike any habitation they'd faced before, for the sea-stacks, beaches and headlands were much more forbidding and dangerous than they faced before as well.
Of course a few beaches in the more-sheltered inlets between stony headlands were filled with colonies of turkey-sized sea birds called auks.
Yet the expedition party had to be on their guard while they made their way through the coast because they knew that all pirates here on the forbidding coasts had a notorious distrust for outsiders.
Across the estuary, our party came to a coastal beach where they found "Red Death Lagoon", precisely the town of real pirates as the old salt had warned before.
They laid low to avoid the patrolling dinghies with pirates on board, armed with pistols and swords.
Piles of bones and corpses were all over the town's beaches, sensing a chill to the hidden safari-explorers but our friend John.
Eventually he led the expedition party through the pirate grounds very quietly without being seen, hoping this way wouldn't attract even one eye of a buccaneer.
But just as they were about to continue the treasure hunt, a woman scream was heard from behind.
It was the former-pimp prostitute; Mei who somehow had been caught by the local foraging sorties, dragged into the center of the pirate's domain.
Not only that, but someone else was captured; a young Irish sailor from the S.S. Scout named Seamus, who was involved in the hostage situation as well.
Ferguson bolted from the expedition party, attempted to rescue the two hostages from the pirates, but the odds were stacked against him as they were everywhere surrounding him.
Before long, he and the expedition part had been captured, tied up at the killer post where they were to be slain for trespassing.
"Let the blood run down from thy throat for eternity!" bellowed the pirate captain, pulling out his long bladed sword from his pocket.
But as fate would habit, the captain from the S.S. Scout came to the rescue with a hand of his lietuenants and colleagues on time.
A tuft war was launched on pirate town, involving guns, hooks and swords until a man-to-man fight took over with fists and punches.
And just as things were getting black for the tramper's crew after a few rounds, a monstrous skin-folded reptile appeared out of nowhere; killing seven pirates and threatening the posse from the Scout.
Now a fight between man-and-beast took place on the coastal region of Blood Island like a animal-war of a predator and its meal from scavengers.
At last, the monster was shot dead before the expedition party was brought back to the ship in safety.
Once more the crew of the ship continued the repairs, lightening the loads to float off the coastal boulders until at last when night fell.
It was a little stormy that hour of night with clouds of thunder that shattered a echo throughout the coastal region.
What the Scout hadn't realized was that the pirates from Red Death Lagoon had sworn bloody vengeance on their trespassing outsiders, armed with cannons and dynamite.
It wouldn't take long when Bjorn had the good sight to witness a band of pirates a-coming before alerting the entire ship and its crew.
Once again, a tuft war had launched, involving bombs and guns before a battle of iron-manly sailors versus blood-lusting pirates exploded on a stormy night.
In the midst however, Mei was kidnapped again from the ship's hull.
Seamus attempted to rescue her again, leaving the Scout and its crew in a grimly conflict behind.
Eventually the pirates suddenly fall-back, departing their ill-gotten sport of warfare; ironcially the half-demolished tramper.
Having the S.S. Scout fatally damaged and sinking slowly, the entire crew was forced to evacuate immediately, once again armed to the teeth to rescue the hostages again from the sneaky buccaneers.
