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Updated Saturday 10 May, 2008 12:19 PM | Headlines | Discussion Forum | International Edition |
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Extinction Event By Doctor What
Chapter 19 "Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you." -Aldous Huxley ** Tuesday Aug 19, 2008 - Lago Piratuba Nature Reserve – near Macapá, Brazil About 11 pm local time ** "Aliens!" "And I’m telling you it was some kind of weird weapon that was tested that got out of hand. Probably one of those old doomsday weapons that the old Soviet Union was suppose to have that they never got around to using." "Maybe it was some kind of exploding supernova causing dark matter protons to impact on the space-time continuum." said Shantala, her voice practically dripping with sarcasm. The two males turned and stared at Shantala for a long moment. "What?!" yelled out Shantala, the light from the campfire casting flickering shadows all over her face. "Aussie guy here" – she jerked her thumb to her right - "--has been going on about aliens for the last ten minutes –" "I do have a name, you know. Michael. Mi-chael." "—and you", continued Shantala, ignoring him, "—does it really matter how it happened? We’ll worry about who or what is responsible after we get out of here." "Nothing wrong with speculating what happened, hon." said Victor, a note of admonishment in his voice. "You two idiots are about to start hitting each other over whether or not its aliens or a Soviet doomsday device! That’s not speculating—that’s just being moronic! Now shut the hell up—both of you! –and pass me that bottle." Victor dutifully handed over the small bottle of alcohol that he had ‘liberated’ from Michael a few moments earlier. Shantala took a generous shot of the stuff in the bottle –Victor had no idea what the stuff was other than a cryptic remark from Michael stating that it ‘almost never makes anybody blind’ – and leaned back against a tree trunk. The ‘Big Plan’ on getting to safety had hit a few minor road-bumps. They had made good time on the highway going north for the last few hours but the complete absence of any traffic whatsoever (which Victor found more than a little frightening in its implications) and the pitch dark conditions they were trudging through convinced them to stop and make camp. As near as they could figure, they were just a few miles away from the turnoff that would lead to some town by the name of Amapa. According to the (extremely crappy in Victor’s opinion) map they had, Amapa looked like some kind of semi-decent sized mining/lumber/fishing town of around 5,000 people. Victor was fairly certain that they would have no trouble getting some kind of transportation –be it car, truck, bus or even leaky fishing boat--once they got there. The problem was getting there. They were in the middle of a national park, pockmarked with swamps and bogs from the age of the dinosaurs, alone and without any real weapons. In the dark. Surrounded by numerous dinosaurs—some of whom may be hostile. Going to a town that may—or may not – be there. Whose reaction to foreigners was a complete mystery. In the off-chance that they will be able to get some transportation there. Good thing that the Russian soul is so melancholy, huh, Vic—otherwise you would be really depressed right about now… First Michael and then Shantala eventually drifted off to sleep, the campfire slowly burning down to a low glow. Victor was fighting the waves of fatigue washing over him. These two are now my responsibility—they wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me! And if anything were to happen to Shantala because I fucked up… Victor shook his head, trying to shake that thought away. No—my responsibility now—have to watch out for them. Even the annoying Aussie… Victor stared at the embers of the fire and threw in another log.
And around 2 am, Victor nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard loud growling from deep in the jungle behind him. Shantala and Michael were awake a few seconds later. "What the hell is—" asked Michael before Victor shushed him. The three of them listened for a few moments, too scared to move or make any loud noises. The growling sounded like it was coming from about a hundred or so feet away from them. Strangely enough—it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. "What do you think is going on out there?" hissed Michael. "Don’t know—but it sounds like something really big." replied Victor "Might I suggest that we do some running—away from the big thing out there that may want to eat us?" said Michael, standing up and slowly moving back towards the highway "In a minute—I want to check it out." "Check. It. Out?" repeated Michael, staring at Victor in disbelief. "Are you completely retarded or something?" "Victor?! Don’t you dare go out there!" hissed Shantala, a bit louder than she intended. "I’ll be right back! I just need to see what it is!" Victor turned and went into the jungle without waiting for a reply.
Victor crawled through the undergrowth, trying very hard to move as silently and slowly as possible. Victor? You DO know that this is an insane idea? Right? RIGHT?! said an inner voice He nodded his head. He had to admit—in the very long list of boneheaded things he had done in his life--walking into a dark jungle filled with dinosaurs to check out a noise was pretty much up near the top spot—but he needed to see what it was. Part of him was terrified out of his mind. But another part—the part that had survived a great of ‘unpleasantness’ in his homeland through sheer force of will before he managed to get out and was now buried under layers upon layers of the normal and stable and, above all, boring life of a financial accountant – was pushing him forward. He really didn’t want to think about what that implied about him… He pushed aside some bushes and stared out. In a small clearing were the remains of a large dinosaur, lying on its side. Victor couldn’t make out much of the details about the dinosaur due to two things. The first had to do with it being nearly completely torn apart—with blood, bones and various unidentifiable internal organs scattered throughout the clearing. The second had to do with the 15 foot long Tyrannosaurus-like creature busily tearing out a chunk of the hindquarters of the dead dinosaur blocking his view. As Victor gaped in awe, the dinosaur managed to finally rip a man-sized chunk out of the corpse and tilt its head back, the moonlight casting a weird glow on the blood dripping down its front as it did so. After a few seconds of swallowing, it leaned over and bit down on one of the legs of the corpse and shook its head violently back and forth, trying to sever it. Victor stepped back into the jungle as silently as he could.
"Ok—off we go!" "What did you see?" "No time for that! Off to that town!" "Pitch dark—can’t see." "We’ll use a log from the fire as a torch and travel by moonlight! Off we go! Double time!" "Seriously—what did you see?" "Explain later! Wasting time now!"
The three of them had walked for about ten minutes when they spotted two sets of headlights coming their way from the north. The headlights turned out to belong to two jeeps and as they passed by they suddenly turned around and screeched to a stop next to the trio. About a dozen or so men leaped out of the jeeps and fanned out. It didn’t escape any of the trio’s notice that the men were—conveniently—completely surrounding them in just a few seconds. The men were dressed in a hodge-podge of clothing—some were wearing soldier’s uniforms, others jeans and t-shirt, and one or two were wearing nothing but shorts and sandals. All of them were carrying rifles. "You seem to be in a bit of trouble." said one of the men, apparently either the leader or spokesperson of the group. His English was surprisingly good, with only a hint of an accent. "Yeah—a bit." said Victor, carefully keeping his tone of voice neutral. "I was wondering if you would be able to give us a ride to the next town?" The man smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile. It was more like the smile one sees on an animal on a nature show. An animal that has realized it’s finally caught its dinner and is now planning to have a bit of…fun…before it eats. "That depends entirely on how much money you have." He glanced up and down Victor for a moment and then returned to facing him. "For example—that wedding ring and watch you have. And your wallet. And that goes for all your friends as well." The man smiled again. "You’re mugging us? NOW?" screamed Michael. The man exchanged a grin with several of his friends before turning to face Michael. "I believe that is a yes." "Don’t you know what’s been happening?!" yelled Victor. "There’s actual dinosaurs running around loose around here! We saw one only—" "Yes, yes, yes." said the man, interrupting Victor with a wave of his hand. "We have all heard the stories and rumours. The radio stations are full of them. We have met many travellers and tourists on this very road over the last few hours who say what you say. What concern is that news to us? If it’s false then it means nothing to us. If it’s true, then sooner or later they will be hunted down and killed and life will go back to normal. But in the meantime, with everything in disarray, we have decided to take it upon ourselves to offer our…how do you say?... protection services to all the travellers along this stretch of road. There will, of course be a small fee for this service." The man smiled again. "Your watches, jewellery and money. Now!" One of the men moved towards Shantala and grabbed her hand with one meaty paw and tried to yank off her wedding ring with another—and was soundly kicked in the groin by Shantala. The man collapsed to the ground, clutching himself and groaning, tears in his eyes. Another man next to Shantala smacked her across the face with his hand. She fell to the ground, letting out a yelp of pain. Shantala was still in the process of falling to the ground when Victor, screaming incoherently, tackled the man. The two of them fell to the ground, a tangled mass of arms and legs flailing at each other and rolling around on the mud. Victor heard the sound of gunbolts being pulled back. Blindly striking out with his fist, Victor was immensely satisfied to hear a loud crack sound and something that felt like a nose go squish. Ignoring the slick feel of blood on his fist, he rolled over and leaped up, running full speed into the jungle. A barrage of gunshots followed him into jungle, hitting trees and shredding bushes all around him. He felt what felt like a bee-sting smack him in his leg. He kept running. Oh God thought Victor I really hope my plan works….
The smiling man from before was no longer smiling. Now—he was practically foaming at the mouth and screaming at his companions in a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish. "What’s he saying?" hissed Michael. "They’re deciding what to do about us. And Vic." hissed Shantala back. "Oh man—we are so screwed!" moaned Michael. Shantala glanced around—and made eye contact with the man she kicked a moment ago. He was staring at her with an avarice look in his eyes. He grinned, showing a mouthful of crooked and stained teeth. Shantala turned to face Michael. "What do you mean we are screwed?"
Victor ran through the jungle, not knowing if anyone was behind him. His plan would only work if he had some time to put it into place. If someone was chasing him, then his whole plan was fucked up—and Shantala was dead…. He zigged and zagged through the jungle, putting on an extra burst of speed.
A moment later, Victor leaped into a clearing. And started screaming. "Yo ugly! Right here! Looky here! Grade-A prime beef right here, asshole!" He smacked his right butt to emphasis this last point. "All for the taking! Come and get it, you bastard!" The T-Rex glanced up, a chunk of the dead dinosaur still in its mouth. It stared at the strange small screaming figure standing at the other end of the clearing from it. It growled and dropped the half-rotted piece of meat that was in its mouth—and charged. Victor turned and ran back into the jungle. Ok—now comes the really crazy part of my plan…. thought Victor.
The now frowning man was still yelling at his companions when they all heard screaming in the jungle coming towards them from the other side of the road where Victor had run into. Leaving a few behind to guard the prisoners, about half a dozen of them moved onto the road and brought up their guns. A moment later, Victor erupted from the trees, still screaming---and threw himself face down into a ditch. The men were just about to shoot when-- The T-Rex came out of the forest—right behind Victor. "FUCK!" screamed Michael, his scream echoing around the jungle. He was pushed face down into the ground by Shantala a second later. The men—all armed with rifles—did the very first thing that came to mind. They started shooting. Victor—cowering in the shadows of the rain ditch near the road and praying to whatever deities that may exist that the dinosaur not pay attention to him – looked up to see a dozen or so pockmarks appear on the dinosaur’s chest, spewing out blood. It screamed in pain and anger and rage—and charged at the men. Victor poked his head up just in time to see the T-Rex rip a man in half and swing its tail towards another man. The tail-swiped man was flung backwards about a dozen feet into the middle of the road and collapsed face down, unmoving. Amidst the maelstrom of screams and gunshots and roars, Victor spotted Shantala, face down on the side of the road.
Shantala had her hands over her ears, trying to shut out all the sounds around her. She had her eyes shut, too terrified to look around her. She was vaguely aware of the fact that she was holding her breath. A hand—a human hand—suddenly grabbed her wrist. She glanced up, a scream halfway to her throat, when she saw that it was Victor. "Hi Hon. I really think we should leave now." said Victor, smiling.
Dragging Michael behind them, the trio leaped into one of the jeeps. Fortunately, the keys were still in the ignition. Victor stomped on the gas and the jeep sped off, leaving the screaming men and T-Rex behind them.
"That was—by far—the most idiotic, insane, irresponsible, stupidest and, and, and, and…." trailed off Michael, completely incoherent with rage. "…well—whatever the word is—you’re IT!" "Hey—it worked, didn’t it?" said Victor. "Kill you…kill you slowly…." muttered Michael. The jeep sped off down the road, heading north. ~~ Please Comment In The Discussion Forum
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