Chapter Fifty

Pedal to the Metal

...


Previously…

- The walkie coughed into life again.

"Connor! Connor! Come in, dammit!" It was Danny. "Connor, tell me you're out of the park! Please!"

"We're about halfway to the lodge, why?"

"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?"

"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." -


Yield not to evils, but attack all the more boldly. – Virgil

Connor put the walkie away, then turned to Grant and Abby. "OK, in case you two didn't hear that…"

"Run like hell, or get blown to pieces," Abby simplified.

"Yeah, that," Connor confirmed.

They ran. Abby was in the lead, Connor next, and Doctor Grant behind them.

The sky was darkening, and clouding over. They ran into the forest section of the park, and tree branches covered overhead. Around the next bend, Gallimimus were idly browsing the roadside branches. As Abby ducked underneath a tail, its owner honked in distress. Soon, the others were doing the same. As Connor followed Abby's path, the ruckus got worse, and they started running alongside the humans.

Connor heard Grant fall.

Connor turned back.

Grant had been knocked over by one of the ornithomimids, and was being thumped by the feet of others, now stampeding past.

Connor ran back to help him up. As he was doing so, he caught a glimpse of something on the horizon. He was looking back, beyond the tree-line. The black silhouettes looked like faraway jet-planes.

Time was running out.

Connor and Grant started running again. They ran past the destroyed fences of Psittacosaurs, Dilophosaurs and Procompsognathus.

Abby was waiting at the end of the trail for Connor and Grant to catch up.

Together, they ran out onto the courtyard. There were no helicopters here, as far as they could see.

Then they saw it.

The tyrannosaur looked up from its latest meal, a freshly-killed Gallimimus, and noticed the three humans.

Grant stood completely still. "Don't… move… a…"

"What, are you kidding?" Connor asked. He and Abby backed away, but Grant stood still.

The tyrannosaur fixed on him.

It sniffed at him.

It could definitely see him. And smell him.

Connor rushed forward and, just as the tyrannosaur rose up to make a lunge, he rugby-tackled Grant out of the way.

The gargantuan jaws closed on the space they'd just been occupying.

"I don't understand…" Grant said, still lying in the mud.

"MOVE IT!" Abby yelled from the trees.

Connor and Grant pushed off the ground and tried to circle around the Rex. It kept swiping its tail and gnashing its teeth as they did. But it couldn't move too fast around itself, or else it risked toppling over, and failing to get up, thanks to its puny arms.

Connor led the way into a thick mesh of briars, in the middle of the treeline. He swallowed his reluctance, and dived into the thorns.

In spite of the spines scratching his face, he carried on deeper, pushing the branches away. Grant was following close behind.

They could hear the heavy footfalls of the theropod out on the courtyard.

The footfalls ceased for a second.

Then, the tyrannosaur's huge skull ploughed into the thicket.

Connor fell to the side, and crouched up against a tree-trunk.

The skull went right past him. It was right at his level.

The tyrannosaur was crouching down to get at them.

Grant was nowhere to be seen.

As it flew past, the tyrannosaur's nose scattered thorns and briar stems at Connor's face. He closed his eyes, and turned away.

The explosion of noise calmed for a second. Connor turned back to the predator.

It was looking right at him. The eyeball on one side bore down at him.

It swung its head in his direction.

He closed his eyes again.

It smacked right into the tree bark.

Connor looked back. It couldn't get at him. No matter how hard it tried to orient its head and body around the trunk, it couldn't get past.

A lucky escape.

The Rex raised its head and roared with frustration, scattering yet more barbs at Connor.

Finally, the super-predator withdrew, its own skin prickled with scratches and thorns.

This revealed Grant's hiding place. He too was sat behind a tree-trunk, on the other side of the Rex.

Connor breathed a sigh of relief.

He got up, and, pulling the branches out of his shirt, he tried to force his way out the other side.

The race was still on.

As soon as Grant emerged from the thicket, they ran again. They were so close.

So were the planes. They could now hear the thundering engines on their way.

They ran up the pathway back to the main gate. It felt like ages since Connor had last been here. It was a complete mess now. The gate was gone, and the bars that once formed it were scattered along the path and the road beyond. The security box was a pile of wood and glass.

A thunderous roar behind them.

Heavy footfalls, getting closer.

"T-Rex!" Connor gasped.

The three of them hopped through the wreckage, and onto the main-road. It was quiet and empty.

The tyrannosaur followed.

It lunged at Abby.

She dodged out of the way just in time.

The tyrannosaur gazed at its surroundings. It gave another huge roar, and then walked down the road, away from the park.

They'd led it out.

And it was heading towards the city.

They had to stop it.

They followed the Rex at a safe distance. It was walking at a slow, regular pace, still walking to the city.

The group walked past a small by-road. Connor looked down it, and noticed something.

An idea arrived fully-formed in his head.

"You two keep following it," he told Grant and Abby, "I have an idea."

"What are you going to do?" Abby asked.

Connor grinned. "Just you wait and see. You can't miss it." He sprinted down the by-road.

Ten minutes later, Abby and Grant were still following the Rex. As far as they could see, the bombing hadn't happened. Not yet, anyway. Maybe someone had stopped Helen, or at least delayed her.

Connor hadn't shown up yet. Abby was still wondering what he'd come up with.

Abby heard the sound of a small engine approaching them. It was from a car, and it was behind them.

Just as she turned to see what it was, Connor sped past on a tiny car. It looked like a kit-car. He was wearing driving-goggles. He looked happy.

Caterham R500, with white paint and a double red stripe. Left unoccupied at a garage, and drastic times call for drastic measures.

Connor skidded to a halt just behind the tyrannosaur. He engaged neutral and revved the engine. "COME ON, YER BIG CHICKEN!"

The tyrannosaur came to a stop and turned to Connor. It seemed to recognise him. Anger flared in its eyes.

'ROOOAAAAAAAARGHHHHH! ! ! ! ! ! ! !'

The Tyrannosaurus made for the tiny car.

Connor snapped into first.

It lunged.

Connor accelerated.

He could feel its breath as the dinosaur closed its jaws right behind him. He could smell it too. He wished he'd gone just a bit faster.

No matter, Connor sped through the rex's Baba Yaga chicken legs and made for another small by-road. Footfalls reassured him that his plan had worked. Then he realised that he had no idea what to do next.

Connor slowed to a stop on an empty airfield. The unused hangars and store-sheds were somewhat dilapidated. Long runways stretched into the distance. The whole airfield was lined by chain-link fences, which were too distant to make out in some places.

The rex was nowhere to be seen.

Connor drove into one of the hangars to take stock of the situation. It was almost empty, save for some huge crates.

He parked the car, took off the goggles and got out. His breath was mixed with laughter.

'Hiss.'

Connor's hairs stood on end. It was a raptor.

At that moment, two dromaeosaurs emerged from the shadow of a crate.

They looked in his direction, and hissed again.

Connor hastily returned to the car, and started the engine.

The two predators arched their backs, drew their fore-claws, and hiss-growled.

Connor slammed the throttle and reversed out of the hangar.

Right-hand-down, he let the raptors charge right past him.

He drove forward, past them, onto the runway.

He hammered down, changing up to fifth, never braking. They were close.

He had to turn back eventually. He'd run out of runway.

Just as they were right on his tail, he turned left. Hard.

The tyres skidded.

The back kicked out.

Smoke rose.

He slammed down again.

The raptors were left in his dust.

Connor aimed for the furthest hangar.

70 mph.

75.

80.

85.

He turned around the side of the hangar, then around the back.

A tri of oil-cans, in line. The raptors were back in his wake. Connor took drastic driving action.

He weaved the car around the first oil-can, through the gap, then around the second. Then he wheeled through and around the third. He just missed the turning, and knocked the oil-can over. Connor looked in the wing mirror. The raptors were bowled over by the rolling oil-can.

Connor decided that, were he to re-tell this story, he'd say he did that on purpose.

Connor turned around the next corner of the hangar. The raptors were nowhere to be seen.

Connor eased her out onto the middle of the airfield. He could relax a little now.

Another explosion of noise.

The tyrannosaur crashed right through the side of the nearest hangar. As it emerged from the dust cloud, it fixed its gaze on Connor.

He took off. The Rex followed.

Connor drifted fantastically (understeered horribly) around the hangar.

He checked in his wing mirrors. The Rex was lagging behind the hangar, hidden from view.

The raptors re-appeared in the rear-view, right behind him.

The T-Rex broke through the iron part of the hangar. Damn, Connor thought, forgot she could do that…

The tyrannosaur quickly caught up. The raptors noticed her, and tried to dodge.

Too late. She swung her great head and sent each one flying.

Connor consciously pushed harder on the throttle.

Another huge 'ROOOOOAAAAAAAARGHH !'

Over the sound of the engine, Connor heard something new.

Helicopters.

He looked into the sky above to see three helicopters with the US flag and the symbol 'Γ' painted on the side. They descended towards the Rex. A man with a rifle leaned out the side of each of them. All three riflemen fired at the Rex. Three rounds of bullets pierced the Rex's flank. The dinosaur gave another, softer 'Raggh', and gave up the chase. It changed direction, and ran to the chain-link fence. It crashed through, and continued on through the forest, out of sight.

Connor slowed the car, and turned to free-wheel to the helicopters.

The copters landed, and two men stepped out of one. As Connor got out of the car, they outstretched their hands.

"Connor Temple?" one of them asked. He was taller than Connor, and had short, dark hair. He was wearing sunglasses.

"Yeah," Connor replied, shaking the hand. "Who are you?"

"Staff Sergeant Dillon," the man replied. "This," he motioned to his accomplice, who shook Connor's hand, "is Sergeant Wooding." Wooding was slightly shorter, and his lighter hair grew longer than Dillon's. "We're part of the rescue op."

"Oh right! Levine's guys, yeah?"

"Yes. Specifically, we're taking care of the rogue creatures," Dillon told him. "We could really do with your help on that front. First of all, do you by any chance know how many tyrannosaurs there were in Everglades Land of Time?"

"More than one," Connor told him.

XXXX

The female tyrannosaur walked past its first house. It looked down the street. There was plenty of potential prey here.

They'd reached the suburbs.