Mina Hendricks was in the dark. Above her head, she could hear voices: the crew's voices, harking at each other like crewmen stereotypically did. Mina couldn't make out the words but that was fine with her. Just hearing the voices, somewhat muffled, was frightening.
"We're crammed in here like sardines in a can," Rick Wallace said, his voice resonating in the dark from somewhere. "How much longer do we gotta be in here?"
"Shut up, you pointy-earned nincompoop." That was Grayson, their esteemed leader. "We just have to wait a few more minutes."
"I'm getting angsty up in here," said a new voice. That was Dillan Munroe, who was standing next to Mina. He accidently - or perhaps intentionally - prodded Mina in the side with his elbow.
"Watch it," she warned.
"Sorry," he replied.
The seconds ticked by painfully slow. Then Grayson gave the order: "Charge! Follow me, everyone!" He sprinted out of his hiding spot among the crates, followed by Max Neaten and eventually Rick. Mina ran after them, distinctly aware of Dillan Munroe behind her.
They ran up into open air. The light was so painfully bright that Mina was disoriented by it and almost fell. Luckily she steadied herself at the last minute.
"Hey!" a furious voice shouted. Mina's heart jumped into her throat. "Stowaways!"
A man stepped in front of them. "Hold it right there!"
Grayson pointed his AK at the man. "Move it or die!"
The man's eyes widened and he quickly got out of the way. But as Grayson was turning, Mina saw the man reach into his belt. The next second there was a blast and he spun and fell to the deck. Mina didn't know who shot him.
Now angry voices were yelling from all around. They were on the dock now, and running full-sprint for the treeline. Suddenly, bullets whistled through the air around them. Mina jumped to the ground, froze for a moment before realizing that she was still alive. She got her legs under her and dove for cover behind a large crate. Bullets riddled the ground behind her.
"Kill them!" Grayson shouted from somewhere. Screams and gunshots echoed in the early morning air. Mina unstrapped her AK and cocked it, like Grayson showed her. She clutched the gun to her chest and tried to work up the courage to take a shot. She peeked around the side. Grayson was in front of her, ducking behind a crate himself. Occasionally he would stand up and fire before ducking down again. Beyond him, Mina saw the crewmen returning fire. Occasionally she saw one of their heads poke out so he could take a shot.
"Retreat!" Grayson shouted. "Max, help me cover them!"
"Go, everyone!" Max said.
Mina did as she was told and ran with Rick and Dillan towards the treeline. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Grayson and Max let loose one last barrage of bullets before sprinting after them. Mina ran harder and faster than she ever had before, pure terror adrenalizing her body.
Suddenly, she heard a scream. She cast a glance over her shoulder and saw Dillan on the ground. He didn't move. Terrified, Mina ran faster, forcing her limbs to obey her demands. The treeline neared - ten yards, five, three. Then she was there, diving into the vegetation, losing her footing and collapsing onto a bed of sharp sticks. The sticks jabbed her arms and hands, and she swore in pain. Frantically, she pushed herself up and ran on.
"Mina!" a voice said from somewhere. Mina stopped, looked around. She saw Hansen crouched a few yards away, waving to her. She went over to him and crouched down beside him. "Where's the others?" she asked.
"Rick's in here somewhere, and Grayson and Max are probably on their way," Hansen replied. "Did you see Dillan?"
"Yes," she confirmed.
"You saw him go down?"
She nodded.
Soon the others met up with them. Rick, who gave Mina a quick nod. Then Grayson and Max, who both appeared exhausted, but despite this Grayson quickly insisted that they get moving. "Quick! They're gonne be after us. We have to make some distance between us and them!"
So they ran further into the jungle.
***GCG***
Mina collapsed, unable to stand any more. There was an insatiable burning in her lower half, particularly her thighs. No wonder; they'd just sprinted about fifty yards through rugged jungle terrain. Right now, she wasn't worried about how this looked in front of the men.
"Five - no, eight - uh, we'll sayyyy... seven minute break!" Grayson concluded. He was panting, leaning on his knees.
Mina zoned out and just concentrated on getting her breath back. Her eyes sprang open automatically at the sound of approaching footsteps. She looked up, and saw Grayson pass over her. She twisted and saw a man lying in the mud. She was pretty certain it was Rick. Grayson bent over and rolled Rick onto his back. "You're lying in the mud, Wallace," Grayson announced. Rick made no response. "You would have drowned!" Still nothing. Grayson chuckled and walked away.
Once again Mina almost fell asleep. Then a boot prodded her in the side. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Grayson looking down at her. "Hey, kid, better get some water in ya," he said.
Mina rolled herself onto her back and sat up. Her muscles groaned with protest, but she didn't shriek. She calmed herself with a few steadying breaths. Then she unshouldered her back pack and put it down on the ground in front of her; she zipped it open, and reached inside pulling out a water bottle. She uncapped it and took several big, delicious gulps. When she was done, she put it back in the pack and stood up, shouldering the pack again. She looked around, surprised to see that Rick and Hansen were still lying on the ground, still sucking in large breaths. Max and Grayson were both sitting down, Max on a big flat stone and Rick on a fallen log. They were tired. Max looked up and gave Mina a nod. Nima thought it would be fine if she sat down for a few more moments.
"Okay," Grayson said after a few minutes had passed. "It's time to get moving. Max, you wanna get Rick?"
The heavyset man grovelled and stood up and stamped toward Rick's motionless body.
After he'd slapped Rick awake, the group checked their weapons to make sure they were all still functioning. Then they set off into the jungle. Grayson had them walk side-by-side in a tight cluster. He insisted that this was a proven effective method for traversing dangerous grounds. Mina took his word for it.
They walked for about a half hour with no incidents. Then, at around the forty minute mark, the trees ahead began to shake. Mina heard Hansen gasp. They all raised their weapons, ready to open fire. The bushes shook some more, then a slender reptilian head poked out of the trees and looked at them. The eyes were bright yellow, and didn't seem to blink. Its skin was a dullish brown colour. Its jaws were slender and curved downward at the end, filled with dozens of razor sharp teeth. They looked at each other, the humans and the dinosaur. Nothing happened. Then the head slowly disappeared back into the jungle and a silence descended.
Everyone let out a breath.
"That was cool," Max said.
"Yeah, cool," Hansen grunted.
"I wonder if it's still there?"
"Could be. Could be waiting for us to walk by so it can ambush us."
Grayson slapped Hansen for that comment. Hansen attempted to fight back but Grayson put a finger to his lips and widened his eyes, pretending like he'd heard something. Hansen stopped fighting immediately and looked around with scared eyes.
"No time for this infighting," their leader said.
"You hit me," Hansen pointed out.
"I am your commander. I will relegate punishment as I see fit."
"You're no army general. You're just a-"
"Shhh!" Grayson ordered. "Come on, we have a long way to go!"
They continued their trek through the jungle.
Night was come before they knew it. They were all exhausted from the day's events, and Grayson was considering where would be a good place to spend the night. Around that time they happened upon a road and decided to follow it, to see where it lead. Possibly a nice hotel. You never knew.
It was nearly pitch black. Grayson reached into his coat and pulled out a flashlight. He flicked it on and they were guided by the light from the flashlight. A hill came into view on the right side of the path. Mina looked up it and saw a red Jeep on it. It appeared to be stuck on a twisted branch. Its back tires were slightly suspended.
"Check that out," Rick said.
"Finally, a bit of luck," Grayson said.
"It's only lucky if we can get it down."
"Well, let's try."
When they reached the hill they began to climb it. It was slippery and muddy, proving difficult to traverse; but they managed. Grayson reached the top first, Mina right behind. She saw him looking through the window. Then he opened the door. He jumped back, as if shocked. "Ugh!" he said.
"What is it?" Max called up.
Grayson didn't answer or look at them.
"Grayson?"
Finally Grayson turned around. "A dead guy," he said.
Mina reached the level ground and walked over to Grayson and the Jeep. The smell hit her almost at once, so overpowering that she gagged. Though she didn't want to, she looked into the Jeep.
A dead and rather portly man was lodged behind the steering wheel. The sight was horrendous, and Mina turned away. By now, the others had reached them. Max grimaced. Rick put a hand on his chest and stumbled back. Hansen threw up on his shoes.
"Knock it off!" Grayson demanded, kicking the younger man in the side. "You're a man, aren't you?" He pointed at Mina. "This woman's tougher than you are!"
"Maybe we should get out of here," Rick suggested warily.
Grayson looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, I agree. Back to the road. Watch your steps."
They began to slip-slide down the slope. At one point Hansen lost his balance and belly-flopped into the mud. Grayson laughed, half expecting the others to laugh too - but they didn't. Apparently no one was in a very jovial mood after what they'd just seen.
They began to walk along the road again. Ahead there was a tunnel. Like the mouth of a humongous beast, it was pitch dark inside. Grayson grabbed his flashlight and flicked it on.
Like a baseball stadium in the middle of the night and someone turned the lights on, or maybe a movie set with those big overhead lamps - that was the effect. Suddenly they could see the entire interior of the tunnel. That included the six or seven greenish dinosaurs crouched in front of them, rigid jaws bared in a menacing grin, filled with cutting-edge teeth.
Then darkness.
Grayson had dropped the flashlight.
***GCG***
Mina fired. Her gun throttled in her hands, bucking like a living thing: the sheer force of its movements took her by surprise. The others were shooting too. The bursts from their guns illuminated the dark tunnel for brief moments at a time, allowing her to catch glimpses of the creatures within. An inhuman shriek resonated from within the darkness, giving Mina a flush of satisfaction.
"Cease fire!" Grayson commanded.
Mina did not do as he said; she emptied her clip, then turned and looked at Grayson.
Grayson stooped and picked up his flashlight and turned it on.
Two of those creatures lay dead on the road, blood spilling from the many coin-sized holes in their scaly green flesh.
"The others are gone," Rick pointed out.
"Yep," Grayson said. "Must have ran off."
Suddenly Max let out a scream and Mina turned her head just in time to see Max get pushed to the ground by one of those green things. Grayson, who was closest, seemingly acting on impulse, kicked the thing in the side. It had no effect. Coming to his sense, the man then aimed his gun and shot the thing to death. Then he knelt and checked on Max.
"Look out!" Rick screamed.
Mina whirled around and saw one of those things coming right for her. Instinct kicked in and she threw herself to the ground. The creature sailed over her head, but found a new victim: Hansen. It landed squarely on the man's chest and pushed him to the ground whilst biting his neck. Hansen didn't even scream. Mina crawled away, terrified. Rick shot the creature attacking Hansen; both it and the man fell to the ground. Rick knelt and put his hands on either side of Hansen's face. Hansen blinked wearily. "Please... shoot me..." he gasped. Rick nodded conceit and picked up his gun and shot the man.
"There's more!" Grayson screamed.
Mina looked up to see two more of those things charging Grayson. Grayson leveled his AK and fired at them, but it was short-lived. He swore. "I'm out! Rick-"
The first dinosaur leapt on Grayson and dugs its claws into his chest, attempting to force him down. But Grayson would have none of it. He grabbed the creature's arms and pushed it off. Rick gunned it down. Then he gunned the other one down.
Panting, Grayson yelled "Run!"
"What about Max?" Rick said.
Grayson looked at his fallen friend with a sad expression. "It's too late," he choked out.
Rick closed his eyes for a moment before striding over to where Max lay. "I won't make you do it, Grayson," he murmured. He raised his AK and shot Max in the head. "Sorry, Max," he murmured.
"Come on!" Grayson grabbed Mina and pulled her to her feet. "You still got a lot to show for yourself, kid!"
Mina looked around and saw more of those things coming.
"Come on!" Grayson said again. He grabbed Mina's hand and began to leading her back to the hill. "The car! If we can get to the car..." he shouted.
They climbed the hill hastily, slipping on the mud as they went. Rick provided cover fire so Grayson and Mina could get to the Jeep undaunted.
Grayson grabbed the door handle. A dinosaur leapt onto the Jeep's roof. It drew its roundish head back, like a spring toy, before snapping it forward with a wet splat noise. There was a wet squelch and Grayson shrieked and fell over backward, involuntarily dragging Mina down with him, whose hand he still clutched.
Mina glanced at Grayson and saw a sticky black substance stuck to his face. She looked up as the dinosaur leapt onto Grayson, pinning him down. This time Grayson could do nothing. Grayson's hand opened and Mina tumbled back down the muddy hill, landing heavily on her back on the road. The wind was knocked out of her; she felt paralyzed. Dimly, through the corner of her eye, she saw a dinosaur approaching her. Then there was an explosion and the dinosaur shrieked as it was pelted with bullets. Rick slid down the hill. He grabbed Mina's arm and pulled her to her feet. "Run!" he screamed, his voice hoarse.
Mina listened. She ran for her life.