It was a sound of thunder that caused Carter to look up from her patient. The rain would never stop it seemed, not stopping for anything. She didn't dare to leave the kitchen area, in case Marty's condition worsened. Given the circumstances, that seemed like a likely possibility, and she couldn't be sure. His breathing seemed regular even if it was still shallow and raspy. The wound wasn't likely to inflame anytime soon, though she did keep her eye on it just in case. She knew from experience that anything could happen with trauma patients, it was when you looked away that shit hit the fan. Right now she couldn't even leave or do anything, because Marty's condition might deteriorate.
She was also reflecting on those lizards, [I]no dinosaurs. Those dinosaurs outside.[/I] It seemed ridiculous in her head, but now the animal that had come out of the barn made sense. This wasn't really the time or place to be reveling in that realization though, and she was acutely aware of that. Maybe it wasn't safe to go outside, at least not without some sort of weapon. She'd looked out earlier, at the chicken coop. A damn bloody massacre, she'd thrown up in the sink without bothering to wash it off. It had to be these things that were responsible for the rash of infant deaths…. She didn't want to think about what they might do to an adult.
Getting up, she went over to the sink just to wash her face. This day seemed to be dragging along forever, if only because the others had still not returned. This was troubling, very much so. Well, she would give it a few more hours; hopefully they would make it back by then. Trouble was…. This place was just too remote, too quiet. She thought vaguely that maybe it had been a mistake to come out here again, to take that mission to Costa Rica. This place, it just rubbed off on you, everything came back to it. She would have to figure something out, eventually. How far was it to her jeep? She mentally calculated it in her head. Well the animals had fed so she might make it if she ran.
As she looked up she saw the trees began to shake near the fringe of the forest. Was it the wind? Somehow she doubted that, and her fears were confirmed when she saw that there were sections of the forest further down that did not sway. The most immediate thing that popped into her head was that the Dinosaur was back, that large one that had come out of the barn. Bobbie rushed to the door, and looked out the window. She could see the green lizards, emerging from the chicken coop. They must have rested against the side of the house earlier, that's why she couldn't see them earlier. Now it appeared that they were ready to go back into the village, or the jungle.
As one the lizards turned their heads and paused, staring at the same area that she was intent on. She couldn't hear all the way through the door but they seemed agitated somehow. Some kind of chirping noise, hopping around near the doorway area. This was bad; there was no way in hell she was getting out now. She turned around to see Marty still very much under the influence of morphine. Had that second dose been spaced too close together? She had no way of knowing without some accurate way of telling time. She would check on him in a minute, but first she had to see what those lizards were all agitated about now. She did not have to wait long though.
A figure ran out from the trees, and she did not have to strain to see what it was. It was a man, running for his life it seemed; she could recognize the camouflage pattern even from this distance. It was one of the parties that had forced her patient to open the barn, unleashing the horror inside. Carter's hand flew to the door, ready to put her weight against it if he tried to get in. That only lasted a split second though as she drew it back in horror…what had she just been thinking? It would be unthinkable for a Doctor to consider even for a second allow a man suffer serious bodily harm or death. She frowned, distracting herself by returning to the window. The green lizards were scattering at the man's approach, or were they trying to circle him?
She saw her kitchen knife on the counter, and grabbed the hilt, and a cloth towel. She just placed them closer to her, for ease of access. Returning to her original position she saw the man was closer now, and the lizards were actually running towards him. He was still too far to interfere, and if she opened the door now, some might get in…if they weren't afraid of a grown man? They were gaining, gaining, nipping at his very heels. She wanted to shout, scream at the scenery. The man was distracted for a moment, reaching into his waistband. She saw the outline of a pistol, and she partially ducked to avoid any crossfire. However just as the man raised his gun, the lizards backed off.
She heard a roar, something that chilled her to her very bones. She risked a peek, and heard absolute quiet. The lizards were backing off, like they were scared. Properly scared. She couldn't put her finger on it but this was as unnerving as hell. The man also was standing still, walking forward, and the lizards seeming to back away as he approached. There was no disturbance at all, even among the trees. That was where she stopped cold, even among the trees. She should be able to see the animal, she realized. It was getting late in the afternoon and she thought maybe it could be hiding in the shadows. It was just a thought in her mind but she found the switch on the side to turn the porch lights on.
The lights came on, a bit brighter then she'd expected. Wherever this guys generator was it must still have most of its power. The area between the house and the barn was illuminated, bathing the ground in light. The man shielded his eyes from the light but Bobbie wasn't really worried about that. No it was rather what was behind him she was worried about. It seemed that the forest started shifting a bit, Just that particular section, and she could see a bit of an outline… Her eyes widened as she realized what it was. The lizards realized at the same time as well, as they abruptly fled in all directions.
The animal shifted, it's eight feet of bulk changing colours even as it moved. From one second a perfect imitation of the forest, it was now reverting back to its original color scheme. It was the first time she got a proper look at the animal, the previous time she had been too panicked to really pay attention to anything at all. But now she could really see it. It was heavily built, the jaws slavering with sharp teeth. She was no expert but she could see that it could easily take down a grown man; the pistol would be next to useless next to its bulk. This was her chance; the lights temporarily dazed the animal.
She flung open the door, just covering her eyes against the sudden glare. "In here!" She called out, knowing that the large dinosaur wouldn't be standing there forever. The man seemed to realize this as well, and made a dash for the door, scattering the lizards in his wake. He pulled out the gun, firing a few times at the Carnotaur behind him. Unfortunately this seemed to have the effect of waking the animal out of its stupor. It shook its head, roaring in pain and agitation. Taking a step forward, it lowered its head, and Bobbie realized it was preparing to charge. The man was still running, but he wouldn't be able to run fast enough would he?
She stepped back a bit, fumbled with the light switch. The animal was really close to the running man, would overtake him in a few steps. She flicked the switch on and off, as fast as she could. The animal had some kind of camouflage ability she saw; the lights would confuse its ability. The lights flickered on and off, and she could see the animal slowing, but not giving up its pursuit entirely. The man increased his speed, looking back to see it gaining on him. Bobbie was frustrated, besides the light switch there did not seem to be a whole lot she could really do here. She saw that the man was closer to the house now, could make it in a few seconds if he was fast enough.
Some of the lizards were hopping around by the sides she noticed, almost as if they were waiting for something. Scavengers, she thought to herself, who would finish off the meal after the larger dinosaur had made his kill. A few hopped up and down, perilously close to where she was standing. She kicked out to the side, to try to shoo them away, but they just hopped out of the way, like they weren't scared. Ah hell, she thought to herself as she saw the charging dinosaur, heading straight at her. Well there was no way she was going to let someone die on her watch, not after the oath she'd made in medical school. She stepped out of the door a few paces, holding her hand out.
The man's face was a perfect picture of pure terror and he reached out his free hand as well. Bobbie Carter almost tripped up, as she felt something run past her. Damn, probably one or two of the lizards. But there was really no time to think as she grabbed his hand, staring in horror at the animal behind him. There was no time, no time at all. She pulled back with her hand, dragging him along through the doorway. She stumbled and fell against the kitchen counter, the knife bouncing back and falling into the sink. The man let go of her hand as soon as he crossed the door, grabbing the door and slamming it shut. Immediately after there was a loud thump, as they both heard the door creak on its hinges.
But it held, and it held well. The animal roared in frustration at its missing prey. As Carter looked outside, she saw the remaining lizard-things scattering before the attention of the large dinosaur turned to them. But the animal didn't move, she could see it just standing in front of the house as if trying to figure something out. It roared again, sending another chill down her spine as she realized how close that had been. She'd almost gotten herself killed, and the man as well. The animal walked to the side of the house, looking for some kind of entrance. But there was no way something that size could get in she thought…no way in hell. She breathed a silent sigh of relief that it hadn't resulted in any deaths.
However she was only able to relax one second, before she heard something else that stopped her cold. A chirping noise, much like…Bobbie Carter turned around, looked near the center of the room. There was a shout, she realized it was Marty, starting to wake up. He was feebly putting his hands up, too weak to even get up from the table. One of the lizard-things was on top of him, trying to bite him. It must've gotten in through the door when she'd been distracted… No time to think about that either, she thought. Marty was yelling something about a 'compy' or some shit, she couldn't make it out. Not that it was all that important, not right now anyway.
Her hand dove for the counter, realized the knife wasn't there. It was in the sink, which was still wet and slippery from when she'd washed her face. Her hand dove blindly into the sink, a cry of pain escaping her as she momentarily caught a bit of the blade's edge. Dammit, she would've had to be careful, but she couldn't. Because there was no time. She scrambled for it, trying to block out the sound of Marty shouting in her head. The knife was very slippery; she couldn't get a good grip. Or even when she did, the edge of the blade squealed along the side of the sink causing it to veer sharply to the side. The hell with this, she thought and grabbed the cloth towel, using it to grip the hilt securely.
She stepped past the man who seemed frozen, as if not understanding what was happening. Marty's words echoed in her mind. "Damn, Compy!" Her patient could not even fend off that one lizard in his state… "Damn ten year nightmare!" It didn't make any sense to her, but everything began to move in slow motion suddenly. She reached out, was at Marty's side in an instant. She grabbed the Lizard by the neck, completely caught it off guard. It squealed in her hand, snapping and biting in an effort to force her to release. This only caused her to tighten her grip, as sweat rolled down her forehead. The knife was raised high, ready to plunge in the animal.
"What the hell are you doing?" The voice came from right behind her…before she knew it she was her hand was being dragged back, unable to resist ovr the other man's superior strength. She grunted as he shook her arm, the cloth on the hilt making her grip on the knife slip. She heard it clang to the floor under her, and someone kicked it, sending it skidding across the room. Damn, damn, damn! But she still held the Compy in her hand, even as it bit and nipped her repeatedly to try to force her to let go. She bit her lip to try to forget the pain but it was hard. Especially since she felt her nerves start to go slack where the animal had bitten her. Some sort of muscle relaxant perhaps?
"Let…me…go!" She yelled, not believing herself that this was the way the man showed gratitude for letting him in the house. She felt herself being roughly pushed to the side, letting go of the animal as she did so. It leaped from her hands onto the kitchen counter, chirping tauntingly as it did so. From somewhere outside she could hear the Carnotaur roar, as it made futile attempts to find a way inside. The man stepped over her, grabbing the animal in his turn. Holding his pistol he whipped it with the butt of the weapon. The animal squealed at first, but only fleetingly. She heard a small whimper as she got up, its head lolling to one side, as it lay unconscious.
She felt dizzy for some reason, and dove for her bag. A muscle relaxant… it had to be something like that. She reached, looking for some kind of stimulant, anything really to keep her lucid. Closest thing she found was morphine, and she looked at her fingers again. Some of the lizard bite marks had been right where the knife had cut her skin. So it was probably in her veins by now. Was that how the lizard made its kills? She grabbed the cloth towel and sat down on the chair as she began to try to treat herself. Vaguely she noticed the man picking the prone animal up, and disappearing into the bedroom. Probably to put it in some hall closet or something.
Not that she cared much, at least not now. She felt very tired, and she gripped the edge of the table. She saw Marty breathing heavily, his heart rate must be going extremely fast, she thought. Well so was hers, except her head was just telling her she needed a rest, that everything would be all right if she just went to sleep. Probably the open wound, the saliva in the open wound sped up the effects of the narcotic. She found the only stimulus rather easily, one of her last remaining syringes of Morphine. There was no choice really; she had to be alert to be able to treat her patient properly. Biting the cap off with her teeth, she rolled her sleeve up all the way to the elbow. Gritting her teeth, she inserted about half the syringe contents.
Immediately it began to feel a little better as the morphine started to work on her system. Okay so it was a muscle relaxant as well, but hopefully this dose would be enough to override or counteract whatever the hell venom had been in that lizard's mouth. Dr. Roberta Carter blinked, daubing her wounds with the cloth as she heard a door slam. The man was coming back, this time empty handed. He wiped his hands and sat down, taking his gun out of his waistband. They stared at each other for the longest time, but there was no quiet, not with the constant roaring outside from the frustrated dinosaur. No, there was a tension here, she met his eyes, and in them she saw something that scared her.
There was no emotion in these eyes, even as he smiled, that charming smile. A shiver ran down her spine, and she planted her feet firmly on the floor. "It seems we haven't been introduced properly," Ed James said taking out a cigarette and sticking it in his mouth. "That's a real shame, a damn shame." He leaned over, staring at her patient mockingly, and handing out a cigarette as if for Marty to take. Marty stared at him, the same disgust in Carter's eyes met in his own. The man was unfazed however, taking the cigarette back with no reaction whatsoever. He took a few puffs on his cigarette as they both listened to the not so distant crashes of the large animal circling the building.
Outside, there was a sound of thunder.
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