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Chapter 29

Private Journal of Captain Matt Messiniano, 12th Infantry Regiment, Fort Hamilton, New York. Awarded the Soldier’s Medal posthumously as of a result of his actions during the Manhattan Incursions.

**

"Have to admit – I’ve always wanted to go to Six Flags," said Behrouz, with just a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Really?" replied Charles, genuinely surprised. "You never struck me as the amusement park type of guy."

"I like roller coasters," said Behrouz, shrugging his shoulders. He neatly navigated the Terraplane around a pothole and tapped the gas pedal, putting on a small burst of speed in the process. He had insisted on changing places with Charles about an hour previously and trying his hand at driving. He was becoming quite adept at handling the antique car at this point.

"And now nobody will ever do so again," said Behrouz, sighing slightly.

"Look on the bright side Behrouz – the owners can now turn the whole area into a Dinosaur Safari Park just by putting up a big fence around where it used to be."

Behrouz violently shook his head

"Ugh! I, for one, have had enough of dinosaurs for the rest of my life! What were those things anyway?"

"No clue but as long as they stick to eating those swamp grasses I’m happy."

Behrouz nodded his head in agreement.

"So where the hell are we anyway?" he asked as they started going over a small rise.

Janice shuffled through some maps for a few seconds.

"Ok—there should be a road going south in just a few miles that –"

"Look out!" screamed Charles.

Behrouz glanced up just in time to react. He yanked the wheel hard to the right.

The road disappeared and Charles saw it replaced by a bouncing landscape of waist high plants and bushes…and suddenly…a tree…

Charles felt himself bounce on the seat in front of him then bounce off and land with a thud on the headrest behind him, his vision exploding with stars for a few seconds. Just before his vision dimmed, he thought he heard someone screaming.

Just as he passed out, Charles realized that it was him….

"Charles?" said a voice, coming from very far away.

"Charles!" screamed the voice, much louder and much closer.

Charles snapped open his eyes and tried to stand up.

He realized almost immediately that was a mistake.

With a grunt, he fell onto his back again and tried to look around.

He was on the side of the road with a very worried looking Janice standing above him. She smiled when she saw him awake.

"Think we have a new nickname for you, Lumpy," she said, patting him motherly on the forehead and grinning.

"Wha...what happened?"

"You selflessly and without hesitation threw yourself into the path of an oncoming and enraged car seat that was attacking us, sir, using your face as a shield," said another voice. Behrouz.

Charles glanced to his side.

Behrouz’ legs were sticking out from under the Terraplane. He appeared to be hard at work fixing something under the car.

Charles turned back to Janice.

"Nobody else hurt?"

Janice shook her head.

"Nope but the car doesn’t work anymore. Behrouz is trying to see why not."

"I remember...seeing...something...on the road...."

She nodded her head and glanced to her side. Charles followed her gaze.

"Shit…" whispered Charles.

There was a bus – or rather – what was left of a bus –in the centre of the road, lying on its left side. The entire driver’s side of the bus was caved in, crushed beyond all recognition. The passenger door had been popped open – presumably by the surviving passengers and a wide assortment of debris, luggage and various odds and ends from the bus was scattered about. A rear wheel lazily rolled in the breeze.

Charles giggled incongruously when he saw that the sign on the bus read ‘Charter -Swingin' Singin' Seniors’.

Charles was able to ascertain precisely why the bus had met such a terminal end to its journey.

Lying in front of the bus and looking almost as badly damaged as the bus was the body of a dinosaur.

Charles scanned through his – admittingly highly incomplete – knowledge of dinosaurs and figured that the dinosaur was one of those … Iguanodons? … a rather big one too—almost as big as the bus itself.

It was impossible to tell if the bus had killed the dinosaur outright or merely injured it severely but the dinosaur was – now – almost certainly dead.

Charles was sure of his assessment for one simple reason.

The left side of the dinosaur was completely eviscerated, its bloody ribs exposed to the elements. A few birds – crows, hawks and even what looked like a vulture or two – were happily tearing out a few bits off the body.

Charles squinted his eyes, deep in thought.

"Bah!" screamed Behrouz, interrupting Charles’s thoughts.

He glanced over and saw Behrouz pull himself out from under the car. As he stood up and walked towards them, he yanked out a handkerchief and cleaned his hands.

Charles tried again to stand up, this time getting a bit more success.

"What’s the verdict?"

"You want the short version or the long version?"

"Short."

"She’s broken."

Charles let out a sigh.

"Ok—how about the long version?"

"The thingey in the engine that makes it go vroom that is suppose to be one piece is in two pieces and the thingey that is suppose to be in two pieces is now one piece."

Charles leaned his head to one side, equal parts of amusement and exasperation fighting for control on his face.

"Any chance to fix it?"

Behrouz leaned back, a look of shock on his face.

"Fix it? Here? Not a chance! Not unless there’s a mechanic shop around here."

"So what do we do?" asked Janice.

"How far are we from Fort Dix?" asked Charles.

"In answer to both those questions – we walk. Shouldn’t be more than a few miles and the map shows all kinds of little towns and roads all over this area, so maybe we can get ourselves some more transportation?"

"We have a choice?" asked Charles.

"Not really, no."

"Lead the way"

The trio unloaded the car and walked westwards.

As they passed the dead dinosaur, Charles gave it one last glance.

"I really would like to know what attacked that thing."

"I don’t."

"Why not."

"Cause it might still be around, for starters."

That put a damper on any more speculation.

As they walked past the dinosaur, Charles caught a flicker of movement.

Coming from the supposedly dead dinosaur…

Bellowing and maddened by pain, the dinosaur tried to raise its head – only for it to drop it again with a thud onto the asphalt. It lay there, unmoving, breathing heavily.

Charles could actually see one of the dinosaur’s … lung? … moving. Even from twenty feet away, he could hear the ragged gasps of the dinosaur as it tried to breathe.

Charles felt his breakfast start to come up again.

"Jesus! How…how the fuck is it still alive?!"

"If you can call it living…" said Behrouz.

Behrouz stepped forward cautiously, his rifle at the ready. He gave the dinosaur one final glance as he came to a stop a few feet away from it.

Then he shot the dinosaur in the head.

It stopped breathing almost immediately – but not before letting out one last death rattle.

Behrouz turned around –and stopped as he saw the looks on his companions’ faces.

"Oh come on now. Don’t tell me that the two of you disapprove?" he asked, incredulously.

"It’s…it’s…just that I never seen someone…someone…" stammered Janice.

"What? Put a wounded animal out of its misery? I didn’t get any major thrills doing that if that’s what you’re thinking—but for fuck’s sake, it’s just an animal! They all are. And some of those fuckers won’t hesitate to kill or eat us given half the chance and we sure as hell won’t expect any mercy from them if we were lying wounded on the side of the road!" He glanced back and forth between the two of them. "Why the fuck you think we have the guns? Look—it’s either them or us—and I for one am rooting for us. If you two don’t have the cojones to use those guns when the time comes, then you’re a liability to me. Understand?"

And with that, Behrouz moved off down the road, not even giving the others a second glance.

Charles and Janice glanced at one another for a few seconds and then shrugged their shoulders.

A moment later they followed Behrouz.

Behind them the birds, screeching in protest over having their meal interrupted, flew back down and went back to eating.

"It figures," said Behrouz about ten minutes later.

"What does?" asked Charles.

"In the middle of the one of the most industrialized parts of New Jersey and the car crashes in one of the few sections of the state that isn’t completely paved over with asphalt and a mile from the nearest town."

"Think it’s a message from God?" asked Charles, half-sarcastically.

"Yes."

That made Charles do a double take.

"Really? What do you think is the message?"

"That I should have stayed in bed yesterday," said Behrouz, grinning for the first time since the crash.

Janice shook her head, trying hard not to laugh.

"How are you able to keep your sense of humour through all this?"

"Easy. Once one realizes that the universe will endeavour to throw obstacles at your life no matter what your moral code is like, then accepting it with humour is the only thing that will keep you sane. After all – a wise man once said – Change is not only desirable, it is necessary."

"Who said that?" asked Janice. "Buddha? Confucius? St. Thomas?"

"Mohammed? Zoroaster? Lao-Tzu?" asked Charles.

Behrouz shook his head.

"Frank Zappa."

Charles and Janice stared at each for a few seconds, then shrugged their shoulders.

They followed Behrouz.

The trio got to the top of a small rise – and then stopped.

They stared for a full thirty seconds without saying a word.

Behrouz was the first to speak.

"What’s the name of this town?"

Janice glanced through the maps she was carrying for a few seconds.

"Archers Corner."

"How many people?"

Janice shrugged her shoulders.

"Map officially classifies it as a ‘community’. Can’t have more than a few thousand people, if that."

"Had a few thousand people," corrected Behrouz.

About half a mile away from them, bisecting Veterans Highway, was a road – Hawkin Road according to the map - that went from north to south. There were about two or three dozen homes scattered about, either along the highway itself or along the eastern side of Hawkin Road. Except for the fact that the homes looked abandoned and empty, they were for the most part intact.

However, everything west of Hawkin Road – including the highway – was … gone.

In its stead, there was now a large and rather pungent smelling bog.

"How wide you figure it is?" asked Behrouz.

Charles raised a hand to his forehead to block the bright sun as he made some rough calculations.

"Roughly a mile or so across, I figure," He turned his gaze to the north. "Looks like the same amount there as well."

"What do you think about our ability to cross it on foot?" asked Janice.

"I think we have better chances flapping our arms and flying across, to be honest," was Behrouz’ reply.

"So now what?" asked Charles.

"Hey Janice—that road—does it go anywhere near Fort Dix?" asked Behrouz.

Janice consulted the map for a few seconds, the tip of her finger tracing a few lines. She glanced up.

"Yup. It’s a paved road for about a mile or so. Then it turns into a collection of various paved and unpaved roads for another two miles or so. Goes straight into Fort Dix."

"That close?" said Behrouz, incredulously. "Isn’t there like a couple of thousand soldiers stationed there? This whole area should be crawling with army guys by now. Where the hell are they?"

"I think that they’re a bit short-staffed and spread a bit thin right now, what with the whole ‘world coming to an end’ thing, Behrouz," said Charles, absolutely dead-pan.

Behrouz cocked his head to one side and stared at Charles for a long moment,.

After a moment he laughed, a long barking sound that seemed unnaturally loud in the quiet.

"I do believe that you have mastered the art of sarcasm, Professor!"

"I had a good teacher."

"So -- do you want to lead the way?"

"You’re the one with the big-ass rifle. We’ve got the wussy handguns remember?"

"Ah. So you do. Follow me!"

Fifteen minutes later they had reached the road and turned southwards.

Just as they started down the road, Janice saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye and turned around.

And screamed.

Charles and Behrouz instantly twisted around, their guns already moving up.

There—about forty or fifty yards behind them and standing in the center of the road – were five of the Eagle-Raptors they had seen earlier as they were leaving the university.

The five dinos just stood there, staring at the humans. They looked as if they were just as confused and surprised and startled seeing the humans as the humans were at seeing them.

Charles was shocked on how… human… they looked as they stared at them.

They had a definite and almost comical ‘What the hell are YOU?’ expression on their faces.

Hesitantly and with obvious great reluctance….the lead dino took a step forward.

CRAA-AACK!

The sound of the gunshot shattered the quiet and Charles saw the lead dinosaur fall forward, a large scarlet gape appearing in its chest.

Charles and Janice raised their handguns to their faces, firing as they did – Janice firing blindly out of shock and fear and Charles firing with better aim but no less shock and fear.

Another of the dinos went down, bleeding and screeching as it did.

Like rats, the other three dinos scattered back into the bog, moving too fast for Charles to get a bead on.

In a matter of seconds it was all over.

"Hrumph! Well—that was exciting…," said Behrouz as he glanced back and forth.

After a few seconds, satisfied that the dinos weren’t going to show up again, he nodded his head and turned around and continued walking. "Somebody keep an eye out on our rear" he called out as he walked forward, rifle at the ready.

Charles exchanged a glance with Janice. With an acknowledging nod from her, she moved forward. After a few seconds, Charles brought up the rear. He turned around and walked backwards for a few seconds and looked behind him.

He couldn’t see the dinos.

Charles didn’t know if it was paranoia or prescience but he was fairly certain that he could almost…feel…them behind him…

The scattered farms eventually disappeared completely by the half-mile mark and was replaced by dense forest – which made the trio even more paranoid.

Every screech, hoot or cry from the forests around them made them jump. Not even Behrouz – normally the most calm one of the trio – was totally immune.

Behrouz suddenly came to a stop as he did a double take. He stared at something in the forest to his left for a few seconds, a look of intense confusion etched on his face.

And then he started laughing.

Charles and Janice stared at each for a few seconds, Janice giving Charles a ‘He’s your student – YOU ask him’ look.

Shrugging his shoulders, Charles turned his gaze back to Behrouz.

"What’s so funny?"

Still laughing, Behrouz pointed at something.

Charles followed his gaze – to a sign hanging off a tree.

COLLIERS MILLS WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA

"What do you think, Professor? Since this is a wildlife management area and we just illegally killed a protected species, you think we’ll be up on charges?"

Charles snorted.

"They’ll have to take my gun from my cold dead hands first…"

"That’s the spirit!"

"Would you two idiots cut the macho bullshit and just keep walking?" retorted Janie as she walked by them. "God—it’s like the testosterone shrinks their brains or something," she muttered as she took the lead.

Still smirking, Behrouz and Charles moved behind her.

"Nice lake" said Behrouz twenty minutes later, glancing to his left. He was back in the lead again, the ever-present rifle at the ready.

"Think there’s any dinosaurs in there?" asked Charles.

Behrouz paused for a few seconds, then wandered over to the lake and stared out at its surface.

"Well?" asked Janice a few seconds later.

"No dinos – but there’s a big-ass black and white furred rat thing the size of a cat swimming to the far shore with a dead fish in its mouth. Is that normal?"

"You’re asking the wrong person– I was fourteen when I found out that chocolate milk doesn’t come from chocolate cows."

Behrouz turned his gaze towards Charles "Sir?"

"I can talk to you about the new preface to the Ginza Rabba I wrote last summer and translate it into fourteen different languages if you wish but I’m afraid my comparative Cretaceous mammal biology is a bit rusty. Sorry."

"Hrumph," murmured Behrouz as he walked away from the lake.

"What’s this place called?"

Janice glanced at her map for a few seconds.

"Colliers Mills."

"Fancy name for such a small place."

Janice looked around.

Behrouz was right.

Colliers Mills looked like it wasn’t even big enough to even have its own gas station. As best as they could see, Colliers Mills looked like it was about a dozen or so large farms that had the good fortune to be close enough to each other to convince somebody somewhere sometime that it deserved a name. There probably was … uh…were apartment buildings back at the university that had a bigger population than this place. In any other circumstance, she wouldn’t even look twice at the place.

She glanced to the farm to her right.

"Now there’s a happy dinosaur!" yelled Behrouz cheerfully, the grin on his face threatening to break his face in half.

"You planning to shoot it?"

"Nah. It’s considered unsportsmanlike to shoot something while it’s taking a dump," said Behrouz. It gave the dinosaur another glance. "Besides," he continued "Shooting it will probably just piss it off. So what’s the plan now, Janice?"

She glanced through her maps again for a few seconds.

"Well, alright – we have two choices. This turns into an unpaved dirt road right around that lake coming up. It seems to go right into Fort Dix. Can’t be more than a mile or so away."

"Second choice?"

"Turn right on this road. Go about a mile or so until we hit the 539, then turn left and walk another mile or so until we hit the Fort."

"Double the distance we need to walk for the convenience of walking on asphalt instead of dirt?"

"Pretty much."

"Fuck it," said Charles. "We’re just a mile away! And like you said, Behrouz – this area should be crawling with soldiers. We can’t be the only idiots trying to get to the place. We’re going to run into someone sooner or later."

"I concur, sir. Shall we have a nice jog all the way?"

"Not unless you want me to keel over with a heart attack."

"You really should stop eating all that greasy American food, sir and embrace the vegetarian diet."

"God—now I’ve got two vegetarians in my life hassling me…"

"Less yakking and more walking," said Janice as she led the way and left the two men bickering behind her.

"Well…" said Behrouz, fifteen minutes later. "Now we know why there’s no soldiers patrolling this road."

The trio were standing on the edge of a deep gully that slashed viciously across the landscape – looking for all the world as if the Finger of God Himself had been responsible.

It was easily thirty or forty feet deep, with a trickle of muddy water at the bottom the only evidence that indicated how it had been formed.

"Double back—go back and take the long way?" suggested Janice.

"Wouldn’t do any good," said Behrouz. "Damn thing must stretch for a few miles in both directions."

"So now what?" asked Charles.

"Easy—we climb down then climb back up and resume."

Charles looked closely at the gully, noticing the rather large number of rocks and dead tree trucks that lay scattered along the sides of the gully

"That sounds like a … dubious suggestion."

"Said it was an idea. Didn’t say it was a great idea, sir."

"This is very dumb."

"We’ve been having a lot of dumb ideas the last day or so. So far so good," pointed out Behrouz. "I’ll go first."

"Lead the way."

It had taken a few minutes, but Behrouz slowly…hesitantly…but steadily began climbing down. Janice and Charles looked closely as Behrouz tested a few rocks and trees for stability, noting them for future reference. Except for one rock that slid free just as he had put a foot on it, it had been a relatively safe – if stressful—climb down.

The climb up was maddenly slow but no less successful.

With a triumphal shout, Behrouz made it to the top.

"Next!" shouted Behrouz.

"You heard the man."

"So you go first."

"Ladies first."

"Age before beauty"

"How about one of you two do this before I die of old age?" shouted Behrouz.

The two of them shrugged their shoulders and Janice slowly started climbing down.

She had reached the bottom and was just about to start climbing back up when Charles saw Behrouz shout and raise his rifle.

At Charles…

No—behind me….

Charles turned around, handgun at the ready and was just in time to hear a loud crack from behind him and a near simultaneous screech and equally loud thud from somewhere ahead of him and to his right. For a brief moment he saw a flash of feathers and claws before the dense woods covered it.

He saw a flicker of movement in some undergrowth to his left.

Firing two or three shots randomly with his handgun at the movement, Charles was just about to turn and run down the gully –

--when one of the ‘Eagle-Raptor’ things literally leaped out of the woods, shrieking like a banshee.

Three things happened, virtually simultaneously.

Charles fired his handgun.

Behind him, Charles heard another loud crack

And the creature’s neck exploded.

The nearly decapitated head flopped backwards and the dinosaur began to roll backwards in mid-air as the force of the bullets’ impacts did their work– but the creature’s momentum was still high enough to keep it moving towards Charles.

Charles had just enough time to scream as the creature’s hind claws come at him.

The ‘raptor’ – now quite dead—slammed into Charles and flopped to the ground.

And Charles fell backwards off the edge of the ravine…

Just before the darkness fell, he heard screaming.

And he realized that – this time – it wasn’t from him.

And darkness fell…

**

On to Chapter 30

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