Pale Rider: Zombies versus Dinosaurs (4 page)

“I’ve patched your arm and made a stint for
your leg. The bone didn’t rupture the skin, but I can’t guarantee
you're not bleeding out inside. Let’s remove a path home.” Solomon
then tied me to a makeshift chair he had created on the back of the
t-rex. It looked like a lawn chair with the legs ripped off and
missing most of the backing. Dark red stains and mud covered the
tattered, cheap chair. I could not have picked a more glorious
battle throne.

“Mush Doggie, Mush,” I told the red hulk of
power beneath my legs. Solomon looked at me and a smile tweaked his
lips.

“Crazy bastard. You are having fun.” He shook
his head, took the reigns and slapped them hard against the
t-rex.

I was out for several hours. The first time
the t-rex’s foot fell on the ground, and the pain rattled through
me, I passed out. Night had fell around me while I was in an
endless black dream. I opened my eyes to the night and a fire
nearby. The silhouette of a man sitting and sharpening his knife
was evident. The slick sound the blade made on the sharpening stone
reminded me of teeth on bone. Grinding, but with a wetness. My
mouth was dry. I went to stand up but stumbled as my leg decided
not to work. Foolish action, as I just remembered that I had a
broken leg. My brain was on some sort of auto-pilot.

“Where…” I mumbled out. As I got a clear look
around a saw a young blue standing and watching Solomon. The strong
man appeared to not care about the young blue.

“Deeper in the forest.” He replied while
keeping his eyes shifting around. His eyes darted to the side. He
jumped up with a raised knife and started yelling incoherently. I
then saw the blue running toward him turn around and run back into
the night. He turned and shouted at the blue child, who also ran
off into the night.

“The T-Rex decided to stop moving without a
proper meal. Some blues were eating a deer, so I am letting the
T-Rex eat that dead deer. They are testing us while their main
force sleeps. They want us weak enough to slaughter easily. Or
perhaps they hope we will draw more help and give them more to
eat.” Solomon sat back down and resumed his watch. The T-rex
scratched an itch on its belly with a leg.

“Are you.. Watching the dinosaur?” I asked
him. My eyes darted over to the massive creature.

“Why would I watch that?” he asked with venom
in his voice.

“Because they know how to ride.”

Solomon’s eyes stopped darting and focused
back on me for a few seconds. Perhaps he was testing how lucid I
currently had been. Realizing I was coherent, he then eyed the
massive creature. His head moved around, trying to look from
multiple angles to make sure the T-Rex was clean. I noticed
movement behind him.

“Behind!” I yelled.

He twisted and screamed incoherently again.
The blue brain ran back in the forest.

“This is going to be a long night, Pale
Rider. Good thing I am smarter than you give me credit for.”

I didn’t remember ever insulting this man,
but somehow he had taken offense. If I were unbroken, I would
argue, but right now I enjoyed being alive thanks to this man.

“Do you have something planned?” I asked with
a bit more pleading in my voice.

“If you don’t die from injuries and the blues
don’t catch me off my guard,” Solomon said, “I have my plan E.”

“Plan E?” I asked. Maybe he was much smarter
than me. I had only figured out one contingency, and we used that
in the first few minutes. My re-group point was a last resort.

“Everyone” he replied back, smiling, but
still darting his gaze around. “While you were drinking yourself
stupid with Avant, I went to most of the bar patrons and made them
a deal. If I see them the next night, I will buy them all a drink.
If I am not back in the bar, I will give them part of my share to
come rescue me the next day. I haven’t stayed alive by being
greedy.”

Rage filled me and I tried to stand up.
Again, my broken leg refused to cooperate, and I shambled toward
him.

“Some of those people have families!” I
yelled up at him. “You may not be greedy, but you may have just
broken families with this hellish plot of land.”

He didn’t reply. I couldn’t tell if he was
feeling guilty or thinking of something else. If I could stand, I
would punch him. The blues would surely see us fighting and take
the moment to swarm. I wouldn’t have cared. You don’t risk family
when farming; that’s the rule. I tried to sit and glare at this
coward of a man. Saving his skin by risking others was not
something to be casually thrown around. If we survived the night, I
would no longer do business with him.

A giant bellow of a roar broke my gaze. The
blues had the T-rex panicked, and the beast was stomping trying to
squash them. The T-Rex broke its lead and started a frightened dash
into the forest. Solomon looked scared. If that T-Rex came back
through here, he wouldn’t have a chance against the thing. Yelling
incoherently may be enough for a blue, but not for a panicked
dinosaur. I could see Solomon’s posture shrink into a crouch and
his grip on the blade tightened.

My rage not fully suppressed by surprise, I
said “They stole your ride. Did you plan that? Plan T?”

Solomon tensed as if I had struck him. He
turned toward me with murder and madness in his eyes. The stress
had finally brought him up to the tipping point, and I had shoved
him over with my comment. In the distance, moonlight showed trees
swaying from the T-Rex’s attempt to shake its new riders. I could
see the monster had failed or was trying to outrun them. Unlucky
for me, it was circling back this way. Seeing the trees sway, the
truth sank in. I had blues, dinosaurs, and a crazed man out for my
blood. Here I was, next to a fire, with a broken leg and arm. A
funny thing happens when you accept death. You can mock the
process. I started laughing again. Loudly and without care. Who
would kill me first? Who?

As Solomon raised his knife to thrust into my
chest, the T-Rex stomped where Solomon had been standing. Solomon
was knocked off his feet and stumbled to the ground. He looked up
at the giant beast, about to squash us both.

It was then a second dinosaur, my original
ride - the triceratops- broke through the brush. My dinosaur also
had blues infesting it. Neither set of blues knew about the other.
The horns of the triceratops dug into the side of the T-Rex. Out of
a killer nature, the T-Rex ignored the biting blues and ripped the
hind quarter out of the triceratops. The large red T-rex snapped
its head firmly in a direction and threw the chunk into the night.
The triceratops fell immediately. The T-rex staggered a few steps,
then fell over with a loud thud. What blues didn’t get crushed
disappeared into the forest.

Solomon and I were both lying on the ground
watching in amazement. The power of these beasts was far from what
we even could imagine. He looked over to me. For a second, I saw
the murder return to his eyes. He then started laughing in my face.
I joined in and we laughed together. I am not sure what the blues
thought. Two men were laughing wildly in the night. Two men inches
away from death multiple times.

It was then I saw a group of trees shifting
in our direction. I could hear men screaming and coming toward us.
It looked like Solomon’s plan “everyone” was working.

I hobbled up wooden stairs on a pair of
crutches. Stairs and crutches were not a good combination. The
process took me 10 minutes, so I hoped that no one was watching me
make a fool of myself. I looked at a large wooden door that was
carved with a deliberate care and determination. I would need to
steady myself before knocking, so I didn’t pound myself off the
porch. I realized, shortly after knocking, that I didn’t give
enough room for the door to swing open. In a slight panic, I
maneuvered away from the swinging door.

Solomon answered shortly. He had a broad grin
on his face and beckoned me inside. Inside was much like what I
would have expected from a man like Solomon. The cabin walls had
skulls from various animals. Old soda signs hung from the ceiling,
put up there with care. I was a little nervous walking underneath
them, but was reminded that Solomon rarely did things halfway. He
went over to a table and pulled out a chair for me.

“Thank you,” I told him politely.

“Did you want anything to drink? To eat?” He
asked me with brightness in his voice. It was weird to see him
smiling. I wondered what he was hiding from me. Rough men like this
are not polite, and they don’t smile this much. The thought of a
trap soured my stomach.

“No” I replied back his direction. He had
already turned his back toward me and was heading for the kitchen.
He disappeared for a half a minute, then returned, two beers in
hand. He set them on the table with a clink.

“You could have killed the bar patrons, you
know.” I reached for my beer and watched how he took my
statement.

“But I didn’t. My plan got us out. Well, all
except Avant; rest his bones.” Solomon grabbed my beer before I
grabbed it. He popped the cap with a bottle opener and handed the
beer to me. He then took his beer and opened it.

I raised my beer and repeated “rest his
bones”. We drank in silence for a few moments. I then heard a sound
behind us. Were there more men here? Did Solomon have company
over?

A woman appeared from a doorway and moved
gracefully toward Solomon. He tilted his head back and kissed her
as she passed by. Her hands grazed over his jawline as she kissed
with passion. After the warm embrace, she walked to the other side
of the room. His eyes lingered hungrily on her curves.

“Girlfriend?” I asked.

“Wife” he replied.

It took me a few seconds to connect the word
wife in my brain. Solomon had a family. He was a family man that
had just gone with me on the craziest clearing I had ever been on.
I calmly took a pull of my beer, then got up. I hobbled over to him
and punched him as hard as I could in his mouth.

I showed myself out the door. That was easy
to do. A ranting woman behind me was all the motivation I needed to
find some quiet. In the middle of her yelling, I also noticed
Solomon had remained silent. Solomon was staring a hole in my back,
smiling as he watched me leave.

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James Livingood was born in Montana, raised
with three brothers, and provided trouble for two parents. In his
20's he fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. He moved out to
Seattle after college and started a life by providing IT
Consulting. In 2014, he started the writing adventure.