Chapter Forty-Eight

Terrible Things

Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things. – Russell Baker

Lieutenant David Doody and Brian Lambert had survived the attack on the lobby. Now they were by themselves, trying to escape the park full of creatures. After a few close calls with Hyaenodonts, Doody had used up his remaining ammo. Brian was confident he could lead them to the visitor lodge, but it was quite a distance. It had already taken them several hours. From there they might be able to find rescue.

The sky was clear and blue. A slight breeze blew over the tips of the trees, but beneath the canopy, it barely touched them.

"Yeah, this is definitely it…" Lambert led Doody past several forest enclosures, and they came to a wooden complex. Doody recognised it as the visitor complex. It was almost entirely destroyed, with the roof collapsed in most places. The garden had been uprooted, the fountain overturned, and the courtyard covered with the dried palm leaves that had once covered the roof.

The only sign of survivors was the presence of many footprints in the caked mud.

"Hello?" Lambert called out.

Doody grabbed his shoulder, and put his finger to his lips. They didn't want to attract the wrong kind of attention.

They heard hurried footsteps coming around the next road. Lambert's call must have attracted some kind of attention.

To Doody's relief, it was humans who emerged onto the courtyard.

They were part of a rescue operation. The first load had already been transported back to the city. They'd found around a dozen survivors amongst the rubble, as well as Captain Becker and Miss Lewis nearby. No word on anyone else, though.

They were now waiting for the helicopters to return for a more extensive search-and-rescue. Doody insisted on staying and helping out with the mission.

After an hour of waiting on the courtyard, the sound of helicopters reached them. They couldn't see the far horizon over the trees that surrounded the courtyard. The sounds got louder and louder, and eventually, the choppers arose over the branches. They slowed down, and landed around the collapsed lodge. There were six of them. Each one bore the United States flag, and either an 'A' or a 'B', painted on the side.

Lambert got onto one of the helicopters. With so much room left, they unanimously decided to wait for more survivors to show up before taking him out. Meanwhile, four other helicopters set off into the park. Doody went with one of them, an 'A' helicopter.

With Doody in the chopper were two soldiers, Private Dom Hannigan, and Private Wilhelm Burke; and their pilot, Alex Savile. The two soldiers were both armed with carbines.

They took off over the forest enclosures and began the survey.

Brian sat in the grounded helicopter. A few soldiers and pilots were in discussion across the courtyard. A few of them were speaking into walkie-talkies.

Brian was drinking a plastic cup of cheap Lager Lite, which the soldiers had salvaged from the wreckage. It wasn't particularly tasteful, but he just didn't care much anymore. He wanted to leave. He had to sit here, and wait until any other survivors arrived. After seeing what had happened here since he left, he didn't like any else's chances.

A thud.

It was distant, and soft.

Probably nothing, Brian thought.

Again. Just slightly stronger this time.

A third.

Ripples played across the surface of the beer.

A fourth.

New ripples collided with the old ones.

A fifth. Stronger again.

They were getting closer together.

A sixth.

The fuselage was thrown violently to the right. Brian fell with it. Everything was thrown out of its place. The beer spilt. The helicopter rested on its side, and Brian hit the ground through the open door.

Another shove. The helicopter was lifted onto its blades, upside-down.

On the ground, Brian was left behind. He was sitting below one colossal belly. Giant three-toed talons supported the bulk of the huge tyrannosaur. Its massive skull, full of razor teeth, lowered to inspect the morsel that had just fallen out of the steel shell. It sniffed him. Brian caught the scent of its breath. It was gagworthy.

The sound of gunshots. A few splatters of blood trickled down the rex's side. It looked upwards to see what had attacked it. It walked away, and left Brian.

Brian stood off the ground. His clothes were covered in mud, but he didn't pay much notice. The dinosaur was pacing towards a group of five soldiers, all firing their carbines at it. Each footstep shook the earth.

A few feet between them, the men scattered. Three ran into the ruins and tried to find shelter. Two ran in the opposite direction, out onto the courtyard.

That was a mistake.

The tyrannosaur picked one. It walked a few paces to close the distance, and then opened its massive jaws. It grabbed him around the torso. With a scream, the soldier was lifted off the ground. He was thrown up into the air, and he fell right into the Rex's awaiting throat.

While the Rex pursued the other soldier still in the open, Brian made for the ruined building.

As quietly as he could, he walked around towards the back entrance.

The Tyrannosaur backed towards him.

A tail-swipe came right in his direction.

Brian fell to the ground.

He just missed it.

He felt the breeze that came in its wake.

Quickly, Brian pushed himself up and ran to the lodge. He ran around the back. After judging the state of the buildings, he decided to change target and ran into the Hotel Triassica.

Inside, he was greeted by a few soldiers, and two pilots.

"A T-Rex…" Brian panted, falling against the wall. "Out… the courtyard…" he pointed in the dinosaur's general direction.

"Come on, we need to get to the choppers," said one of the soldiers. He cocked his rifle.

The sun was setting now. Pink and orange hues mixed across the clouds now forming in the sky. Doody's chopper was hovering over the T-Rex enclosure.

"Nah, there's nothing here…" Hannigan said, throwing the binoculars to one side. "Not even the tyrannosaurs."

"They must have all got out already," Doody remarked, still searching.

"There's a comforting thought," pilot Savile said. "Are we moving out, then?"

"Yeah," Doody sighed, throwing the binoculars aside. Burke did the same. The pilot made its way back towards the lodge. Around them, the other three copters followed their lead.

Savile's radio buzzed and coughed into clarity. A voice came through. "Calling all helicopters. Assistance required at the lodge. A tyrannosaur has attacked. Back-up needed ASAP."

Savile lifted the receiver. "Roger that, Team Alpha Second on its way. Over and out."

Brian's group stood at the back door, crowded around one soldier, who was peaking through the curtains. The soldier was young, with cropped black hair.

"It's pacing back and forth," the soldier said. "Waiting for us. We wouldn't get four yards before he caught us."

"Then we wait for help," said one of the pilots. He was older, with greying hair and a short beard.

The Triassica's bottom floor wasn't nearly as destroyed as the rest of the complex. There was minimal evidence of the breakout here. The Postosuchus plinth still stood proudly as if nothing had happened.

A squeak.

It wasn't like a mouse's squeak, it was sharper.

A few of the group looked around for the source of the noise.

Whatever it was, it wasn't to be seen.

The helicopter rose over the trees, and the courtyard came into view again. The buildings were just as smashed as before, but now a helicopter lay upside down in the courtyard. The other copter was sitting behind the accommodation complex, unoccupied. Pacing around the building's walls was one of the Tyrannosaurs.

Savile spoke into his radio receiver again.

"Come in visitor lodge, Alpha Second in position over courtyard. Where are you positioned? Over."

"Inside the Hotel Triassica," came the reply. "We are unable to reach the copter with Tyrannosaur blocking us. Over."

"Roger that, stay in position. I think I can distract him. On my word, run for the chopper. Over."

"Roger. Message received. Over and out."

Savile replaced the receiver, gripped the controls, and dived at the dinosaur.

He pulled out of the dive just in time to avoid the Rex raise its head and roar straight at them. The sound of it shook the fuselage. The helicopter was destabilized. As the chopper tilted towards the dinosaur, Doody and Hannigan grabbed onto the higher doorway and hung on. Burke tried to hang on, but his hand slipped. As the tilt increased, the soldier slid backwards. His legs fell out through the other door. He hung onto the chopper for dear life, his legs hanging in mid-air.

"Hold on!" Doody called. The medic tried to come down to him. He reached out to a fixed cabinet handle half-way across the fuselage, between them.

He grabbed onto the handle. His other hand let go. He swung downwards. His whole weight was now being held by a thin, metal cabinet door, which was swinging dangerously. One hinge looked ready to go.

As it creaked under his weight, Doody tried to reach down to Burke. "Grab my hand! Quick!"

Burke slowly pushed one hand up to the medic. Only two feet separated them, but right then, right there, it seemed like a vast chasm of space.

The Rex opened its jaws and closed them on Burke's legs. It pulled down.

He screamed out.

He fell out of the chopper. The Rex held onto him, and began to devour him. The screams became drowned out in blood, and eventually ceased.

Doody looked away.

The cabinet door gave way.

Doody fell down through the fuselage. He just about managed to get a hold of the edge of the door, right where Burke had been.

"Savile!" he hollered, "Get us out of here!"

"I can't… pull her out of this…" The pilot's voice was strained.

With one swing, the chopper righted herself. Hannigan dropped onto the floor, and then staggered over to pull Doody back into the fuselage.

Inside the Triassica, Brian heard the squeak again. Then another. Then another. Then two at the same time. They were so regular, and so numerous, it was as if there was more than one.

A tiny green thing jumped onto the shoulder of one of the soldiers. He called out with pain, and tried to swat it off. It was biting him. It was drawing a lot of blood.

The other soldiers tried to bat it off him, but soon, green things were on top of them too. A swarm leapt onto the soldiers, scattering blood all over the walls.

Brian looked frantically around himself, watching for them.

The grey-haired pilot, with a green thing on his leg, spoke into the walkie. "Alpha Second, can we move now!"

"Yeah, sure," came the reply. "What's happening?"

The pilot ignored him, wrenched the thing off his leg, and made for the door. "Everybody to the copters! Now!"

They all ran out towards the chopper. It was just yards away. They could make it.

All around him, Brian could hear people screaming, and falling onto the ground. He just kept going.

He jumped into the chopper fuselage.

Doody collapsed onto the flat steel of the floor. He looked out to see a few more of the A and B helicopters arriving to help out. They seemed to know the drill. They all started circling the Rex, just out of its reach. The soldiers inside started firing their weapons on it. The Rex roared out with irritation. It started swinging its head at them, as if swatting at flies.

Behind the accommodation, they could see another helicopter lifting off. The survivors must have got out.

One of the B helicopters got just a little too close to the carnivore.

The Tyrannosaur swung its skull straight at the helicopters fuselage. Immediately, it was cast into the tree-trunks, and the steel body was crushed.

Savile spoke into his radio. "Come in Bravo Third! Any survivors?"

He waited for an answer.

None came.

Instead, after ten seconds, a new voice came through on the radio: "Alpha First speaking. Is everyone ready to go? Over."

Savile replied, "Affirmative from Alpha Third. Over."

Over the radio, the other helicopters replied their affirmations.

"Roger that," came Alpha First's voice again. "All Alpha and Bravo choppers moving out. Over and out."

Together, the convoy coalesced and flew out of the park, leaving the Rex to pick over what was left, under the sun-set.

XXXX

Grant, Connor and Abby weren't making good time. They'd already taken a wrong turn at the Parasaurolophus enclosure. They were now walking through the grassland section of the park. They were about to enter the forest section.

The walkie coughed into life again.

"Connor! Connor! Come in, dammit!" It was Danny.

Connor lifted the walkie out of his pocket. "Message received, Operative Quinn. Explain your transmission. Over." He was grinning from ear to ear, despite his efforts to remain cool, calm and collected. At least this had raised his spirits after what had happened.

"Connor, tell me you're out of the park! Please!"

"We're about halfway to the lodge, why? I mean, over. And… roger that. Over."

"Damn… you need to run. Get to the lodge. Get to the gate. Any way you can, get the hell out of there, now!"

"What… why?" His excitement was turning sour.

"Helen's about to bomb the place. We told her the future predators are breeding, and, well, she took it badly. You need to move. Get to the rescue helicopters, they must be back by now."

"Yeah, we saw them fly back a while ago. They should still be there-"

Connor's voice cracked away as he saw four helicopters rise from the trees ahead of them, turn away, and fly out of the park.

"OK," Connor said, "This is gonna be bad…"