Chapter 11: A Rocky Week
Josiah's POV-
The next day brought a little bit of sunshine to the town. I had gotten to restoring the power as before but the old light bulbs had shattered to pieces after a few measly minutes. The plumbing in the church was okay except that the hot water was no longer working as before. Cold water would have to do for now.
Compies had been through the place as well, leaving some of their 'gifts' around in certain places of the church. Nasty. Luckily I still had my cleaning equipment to do the job. It was irksome work and wasted a lot of the day. But I had to make myself comfortable. I wasn't in the mood to have cobwebs stick to my hair.
The sun was beating down upon my bare back while I was outside. But for some reason it didn't bother me that much. The brightness in my eyes did a little, and I was sure glade I brought sunglasses this time around.
After the housework in the church, I set to getting the jeep in the garage up and running once more. The old INGEN safari jeep had been the same like I'd left it months ago, though the tires had deflated a little. I pumped them back up and checked to see if the engine was still running. Surprisingly, the engine came to life when I turned the ignition. There wasn't a lot of gas left in the single barrel by the vehicle so I filled in the tank with what was left. After this I was going to have to hoof on foot to film the dinosaurs in the field.
By the time I was finished with the house duties and the jeep, the sun had hardly even set. Whoa.
What to do, what to do.
I couldn't just laze-about and do nothing for the rest of the day so I went back to the old administrations building. The place hadn't changed that much at all. Green ivy and vines still grew here and there. But then I remembered the door down to the subbasements. The one where I had the encounter with the Troodons. I shivered a little and held my rifle out, ready to blast the head off the sneaky dinosaurs should they be lurking around. Thankfully, much to my relief, the door that I had locked from before was still closed and locked.
I left the building and headed back to the church. But then I decided to go to the spot where Zephyr had fallen. His skeleton was now bare of any flesh, so that no scavengers could feast on him now. I bowed my head in respect for my fallen friend. It made me feel angry that I had still not been able to protect him. Kneeling down upon one knee, I kept my head bowed and said a silent prayer to my friend.
I was just about to get up and return to the church, when something nudged my back. I spun around quickly, rifle ready to shoot.
Then I calmed down as soon as I saw that it was only Tholestes, standing right behind me so that I hadn't even noticed. I put on my translator earpiece and smiled at my old raptor friend.
"Tholestes, it's you," I said. "You almost made my heart jump-up into my throat there for a second."
Tholestes gave me a confused chirp. "Why would your heart jump-up into your throat, Josiah?" He asked, tilting his head at me. "Wouldn't you choke on it?"
I had to smile at my friend's lack of understanding human idioms. I also knew that the dinosaurs here on the island didn't use human slang or idioms of any the sort.
"Never mind," I said, waving a hand at him. "It's not important."
I was about to reach out and pet him along his snout, when I instinctively stopped and withdrew my hand. Tholestes was an alpha now. And I had to address him as one.
I was about to get back on my knees and bow my head in the respected manner of addressing an alpha, when Tholestes placed his snout under my chin and forced me to stand up. He gave me a slight hiss and a snort.
"There is no need for you to address me that way, Josiah," He said, touching my forehead with his snout. "You are a friend to my pack and to me. I appreciate how you remembered on how to greet an alpha, but you don't need to do that since you are not a raptor."
"Thanks, Tholestes," I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him.
Thoslestes squawked quietly and I could tell he was still a bit confused by my human gesture of greeting an old friend. But he got over it and placed his large head on my shoulder, purring.
We stayed that way for a minute or two before breaking away.
The sun was beginning to go down now behind the trees and I wanted to get indoors before nightfall. The bugs were the worst at night.
As Tholestes and me walked back to the church, the curious alpha raptor started to bombarded me with questions about the mainland and my home.
"What has been happening in the outside world, Josiah?" Tholestes asked as we walked. "Tell me everything."
"Everything?" I said, raising an eyebrow at him. "Boy, you sure are an anxious and curious raptor, my friend. It's almost unnatural even for you."
Tholestes snorted at me, blowing a bit of dino snot in my face.
"Fine, don't tell me," Tholestes huffed rascally as I wiped my face. "Your world doesn't sound all that grand to me anyway. Before you humans came here, our island home was peaceful. We never understood the meaning of adventures or exploring the outside world beyond."
"Oh, Tholestes," I said, giving him a pat on his back. "There is nothing about my world you want to explore these days. And besides I will be here on the island for a while anyway."
"For how long?" Tholestes asked.
"Only for five weeks, I think." I said as I opened the door to the church to go in. "I can't stay longer then that."
Tholestes paused at the doorstep. "Well, as long as you're here, I would like for you to meet the alpha of the summit pack."
"Are you sure about that?" I asked.
"Of course," Said Tholestes. "The alpha, who's name is Razorhide, knows of you and for what you did for our pack. He told me that whenever you should come back, that I'd bring you to meet him and his pack."
"Are you sure that's safe?" I asked. I wasn't in the mood to meet a bunch of raptors that I didn't know.
"Of course I'm sure," Said Tholestes as he turned to leave. "The summit pack haven't even fed on the flesh of humans before. Razorhide told me so himself."
"Alright, when can I meet him?" I asked.
Tholestes scratched at a spot with a foreclaw on his chin. "Hmm...I guess some time next week would be best. The pack is usually in their caves all day because of the hot sun. And they are not in the best of moods when they are approached by a stranger when the are hungry."
"Point taken, Tholestes," I said, feeling a bit of sweat trickle down by back.
"Well," Tholestes said, turning to leave, "I have to get back to patrolling my territory now. It's been great to see you again, Josiah."
I nodded. "You too, Tholestes," I said, closing the door.
I heard Tholestes give a final squawk and then heard his retreating footfalls as he left.
The sun was still gleaming some light into the church but wouldn't for long. So I went to work putting in new light bulbs that I found in the kitchen cabinet. Nobody during the evacuation of the island had even bothered to take any of these because they weren't valuable.
After installing the bulbs in the important areas in the building, and fixing myself something to eat, I went up stairs to my room. The sun had now completely fallen behind the trees and I was once again plunged into a night of noise. That's what I hated about this island; the noises in the night that went on almost forever. Checking my watch on my wrist I saw that it was only 9:44.
So, to pass the time some more, I set-up my camera so I could do a self video of myself as an introduction. I didn't have a lot to say in the video, but I had to make sure that it was lengthy or otherwise people back home would find it boring.
By the time I was finished and the night had become blacker, it was well about 10:25. I guess it was as good as any to stop for now and do the rest in the morning. Provided I wasn't kept up all night by the noises going on outside.
The rest of the following week was a bit rocky. Twice in the night I woke up from the sounds of animals making a lot of noise outside the boundaries of the town, and from a few nasty and bothersome mosquitoes that found their way into my sealed room.
The jeep stalled once or twice during field trips into the jungle. The camera had malfunctioned three times because I was still new with this sort of equipment.
The dinosaurs didn't help matters much either.
A few Stegosauruses charged at me when I was filming by the pond, forcing me to retreat before they did any damage. An angry Ankylosaur had slammed it's clubbed tail onto the hood my jeep, denting it horribly. Luckily for me that the vehicle could still run after that. Note to self; Don't startle a sleeping dinosaur that can club you to death!
So far my week was going swell. The dino damage to the jeep could be fixed, but that would waste time. The camera would need to be tweaked so that I could use it properly. And getting a good night sleep wasn't easy.
Plus, once or twice, there was that smell again. The smell of weed. It was very faint in the air that I could barely smell it. But it was there all right.
I wasn't alone on this island, that's for damn sure. Whoever was here was probably some thrill-seeker who'd get eaten soon anyway. If there was one thing I knew about dinosaurs, especially the carnivores, is that they could pickup scents from miles away.
The smell of fire was always my concern whenever I made a small fire pit outside the church. This kept the bugs away but it always seemed to draw the small Compsognathus to me as well. A single Compy on it's own wasn't much of a danger, but a whole group...they were just trouble.
And trouble was not what I wanted right now.
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