Chapter Two: On the Plateau
"I just want you to remember that this was your idea," said Barry, wiping his forearm across his sweaty brow. "And that I just deferred to your judgment."
"Whoever threw that spear threw it from up here," said Rebecca. "And I figure that Leon and Jack would go after whoever smashed their equipment."
Barry grumbled, finding another handhold in the rock face. They had not been given the correct type of equipment to climb sheer rock, and they were lucky that they faced something slightly different. There were many craggy outcroppings on the mesa formation, and its uneven surface even sloped out just a bit. This made for incredibly steep, but not quite vertical, climbing.
Rebecca felt around with her slender fingers, finding a handhold, and gripping down. She shifted her weight to that hand, preparing to bring her foot up to another foothold, but the little outcropping underneath her hand gave way, causing her to slip.
"Rebecca!" shouted Barry. He reached down for her, but when she missed his hand, there was nothing he could do for her without losing his grip and falling himself. Rebecca scrabbled at the steep face, trying to catch onto anything to prevent her sliding the whole rest of the way down. She didn't yell, because she was too panicked to scream. She pressed her fingers down against the rock, and—they caught. She stopped with a jolt, holding onto the steep rock wall by just three or four fingers. She pulled her other arm up and felt around until she found another handhold. Once secure, she looked up at Barry.
"We'll have to be a bit more careful!" she shouted, a smile on her face. Barry shook his head, his heart thumping in his chest. He nodded, and they both started climbing again, though now a bit slower, a bit more careful.
.o0O0o.
When they reached the top, Rebecca and Barry sat there for a moment, catching their breaths from the long climb up. After they recovered, they got to their feet and surveyed the mini-forest ahead of them. "What now?" asked Rebecca, her hands on her hips.
"I suppose we start looking or Kennedy and Krauser," said Barry, scanning their environment. "Though, I'm not sure where we should even start. This plateau seems huge."
A screech came from overhead, and the two agents' head snapped upward. There were some circling birds, high above them.
"What the hell is with them?" asked Barry.
"Maybe they're scavengers," said Rebecca. "It looks like they're circling something nearby."
"Let's find whatever they're looking for," said Barry. "For all we know, it could be our agents."
Rebecca and Barry took a couple steps toward the forest, and suddenly, a large shape dropped down on them, grabbing Rebecca and returning to the sky.
"Aaah! What the hell?" Rebecca squirmed in the grip of the thing that held her, and Barry drew his weapon, aiming it at the creature that held her. He fired a shot, two shots. The bullets tore through the leathery wings of the beast, causing it to throw back its head and screech in pain. Its grip loosened, and Rebecca was able to wriggle free of its grasp. She fell to the ground, rolling as she did to minimize impact. When she stood, she drew her handgun, as well.
"What the hell are those things?" Rebecca asked. "Some sort of B.O.W.?"
"I wish they were," said Barry, keeping his gun high and pointed at the flying monster, which was joined by two similar monsters. "But these aren't B.O.W.s—they're dinosaurs. The kids love them. Pterodactyls or something."
"Dinosaurs are extinct," said Rebecca, her finger hovering over the trigger on her gun, not taking her eyes from the monstrosities, which stayed back about fifteen feet, deterred by the treat of injury after Barry's shots.
"And zombies are horror movie stuff," said Barry. "If this is the thing you have the hardest time believing in your job, you've got a lot more coming, Rebecca."
The lead flying dinosaur let out a screech, and the two others followed suit. They dove down at Rebecca and Barry, who fired at the monsters. Two bullets connected with the pterodactyl on the right's narrow head, causing it to flop backward out of the air, dead. The other two swept down, one leaving a large scratch across Barry's arm when he raised it to block any attacks. They angled themselves upward, pivoted in the air, and came back down, ready for another attack, as if they were World War One flying aces.
"Get into the forest!" called Barry. "They can't chase us in there!" Rebecca nodded, and didn't need to be told twice. The two flying beasts angled themselves downward, chasing after the agents, but they slipped into the dense foliage. Rebecca and Barry ran through the trees, leaving the screeching animals behind them, tangled in the thick trees.
"Dinosaurs," said Rebecca between breaths when they had stopped. "What the hell are there dinosaurs here for?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," said Barry. "But let's hope that Kennedy and Krauser had a better time getting up here than we did." He winced, feeling the sting of the gouge on his arm. Rebecca pulled the med kit from her waist, and taped up his forearm. "How's your shoulders, where it grabbed you?" he asked.
"Fine," said Rebeca. "The claws didn't dig in, or at least, they didn't dig in too far. I'm fine." She put the medical supplies back neatly. "But I am concerned, because the fact that there are flying dinosaurs tells me that there's something fishy definitely going on here."
"Okay," said Barry. "And if you found your way here, and there was a potential biohazard, and you're a trained counteragent, where would you go next in an effort to find out what's going on?"
"Hypothetically?" asked Rebecca, grinning. "Toward the middle of the plateau, to see if there's any concealable compound that might have created these monsters."
"Exactly," said Barry. "And that's where I think we'll find Jack and Leon."
"Barry," said Rebecca, her features turning stern, "there is going to be more, you know that. There's going to be more than just those flying lizards. And I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to, I mean, with your family, and…"
"Rebecca," said Barry, taking ahold of her arm with his bandaged arm. "I took this job, knowing what sort of dangers were inherent. I've dealt with biohazards before, and I don't think that dinosaurs, or whatever else might be lurking around here, will be any worse than any of that. Plus, I owe it—to you, to Jack and Leon, to Kathy and the kids, to Enrico, all of S.T.A.R.S., the whole world." He let go of her arm and looked down. "I owe them what I can give. And I'm here, and I have every intention of following through on this mission."
They stood in silence for a moment, the only noises around them coming from the various insects and small animals that inhabited the jungle. Then, Rebecca smiled, and looked to him. "What are we waiting for, then?" she asked. "Let's kick some a—"
Rebecca was cut off by a deafening roar which shook the leaves on the trees around them. It was followed by a series of gunshots. Rebecca looked to Barry, and Barry looked back. Without another word, they both began running toward the sound, inward to the center of the mesa.
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A/N: I have to begin by saying that I know nothing about rock climbing I haven't gleaned from my boulder-happy suitemates, so anything there that doesn't make sense, I'm sorry.
I do know about dinosaurs, though, and I can say that Barry is incorrect about just about everything he says. The creatures that attack him and Rebecca are not Pterodactyls, but Pteranodons, and are not dinosaurs at all, but pterosaurs. This kind of flying lizard, whose name means "toothless wing," is one of the largest flying lizards ever known, and they were carnivorous (though in real life, they probably didn't take to abducting animals in the way Rebecca was taken). There's a cool scene with them in Jurassic Park III, so you can check them out there.