Mega 4: Behemoth Island (25 page)

“I no hear!” she yelled.

Then her face exploded and the back of her head opened wide sending croanderthal brains splattering against the mutants that stood and watched. The headless corpse stood there for a second, its grip still strong on Darby’s throat, then it toppled over and Darby cried out as she gasped for breath.

Thorne pushed himself to the ground, nearly burying his body in the sand as shots rang out over and over again.

In seconds it was over and as he lifted his head, all he could see were croanderthal corpses piled up three high.

“Darby?” he called, spitting sand.

“Yeah,” Darby replied, her voice a harsh croak.

“You gonna live?” Thorne asked.

“Yeah,” Darby replied.

“Good,” Thorne said.

He began to relax, but a roar down the beach forced him to push up onto his knees so he could see past the piles of corpses.

“Dammit,” he said as he watched the mutant T-rex chase Max and Mike.

***

The Zodiac was winched into place and Darren and Shane both stared at who greeted them from the railing.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alive,” Popeye said. “Get over it.”

“Okay,” Darren said cautiously. “Where’s Gunnar?”

“Here,” Gunnar said and hurried over to the raft. “What do you need? Are you wounded?”

“Lucy,” Shane said as he helped Darren get her out of the raft.

“Again?” Gunnar snapped. “Okay, no more trips to islands for this girl. Jesus Christ.”

He checked her pulse and frowned.

“Let’s get her to the infirmary now!” Gunnar yelled. “And I need O negative blood ASAP, so get ready to donate, people!”

They carried Lucy’s limp body past Kinsey, Ingrid, and Ballantine, who were lowering their rifles and taking deep breaths.

“Good shooting,” Darren said to Ballantine then looked at Kinsey. “You too, ‘Sey.”

“Ingrid was the superstar, ‘Ren,” Kinsey replied. “She deserves most of the credit.”

“Does she?” Shane asked. “Good to know.”

A roar from the beach made everyone pause.

“God dammit!” Ballantine shouted. “Where are Ronald and Carlos?”

“We are here, Ballantine,” Ronald said, hefting the wave form cannon over his shoulder like it was a rolled tarp. “Please do not yell so much. It is irritating.”

“We all second that notion,” Shane said.

Ronald set the cannon by the railing and let Carlos make several adjustments to the machine.

“Are we ready?” Ronald asked. “Who will be taking the shot?”

“I can,” Ingrid said. “I know how this works.”

“And she’s found her inner sniper,” Kinsey said.

“This isn’t a sniper rifle,” Ingrid said as she stepped to the cannon and flipped a switch. She smiled up at Ronald. “Can you rotate it twenty-five degrees to the right, please?”

Ronald made the adjustment and Ingrid stared out at the beach across the bay.

“Breathe through the shot,” Shane said.

“Shut up,” pretty much everyone else replied.

Ingrid breathed through the shot.

***

Max screamed at the top of his lungs as he felt the hot breath of the mutant T-rex on his head. The stench from the giant maw was enough to make him want to puke, but he didn’t want his last seconds on Earth to be filled with vomit, so he controlled his gorge and just kept screaming.

Mike was right next to him, but wasn’t screaming. He was saying variations on almost every major religions’ wrote prayers that he could think of. He also wanted to vomit from the stench.

The giant monster’s footfalls made the ground shake underneath them and Max stumbled, stumbled, then fell. He face planted right into the sand and was ready to kiss his ass goodbye when he felt a force press him down against the beach. He thought he was being crushed by one of the thing’s feet, yet he didn’t feel his bones breaking or his internal organs leaking out his asshole.

What he did feel was about two tons of guts splatter about him, coating everything, from surf to tree line, on the beach in former mutant T-rex. He shoved what he thought was the thing’s giant pancreas off his legs and looked around, wiping gore and sand from his eyes.

“Mike?” he called out.

“Here,” Mike replied, extending a hand from the middle of a pile of intestines. “I don’t want to be here though. Help.”

Max got to his feet and staggered over to the pile of dino offal. He tossed looped guts this way and that and finally got Mike free.

The two gore-covered operators stood there for a second then looked down the beach at Darby and Thorne.

“What the fuck just happened?” Max yelled.

Darby shook her head and pointed at the Beowulf III.

“Well, duh,” Max replied. “You good?”

Darby gave him a thumbs up.

“Uncle Vinny?” he shouted.

Thorne raised a thumbs up as well where he sat on a pile of croanderthal corpses.

“Ok. Looks like we’re all good,” Max said. “I’m going to sit down now.”

He plopped to the sand and sighed.

“Ah, that feels good,” Max said.

“I’m going for a swim,” Mike said. “Wash some of this off.”

“Monsters in the bay,” Max said.

“Son of a bitch!” Mike yelled. “I fucking hate this place!”

Chapter Twelve- Just Another To Kill Ya Sunset

The crew of the Beowulf III sat in deck chairs and faced the other ship. They were wrapped in various bandages, slings, casts, and antiseptic creams. A flask was passed down the line of chairs, making its way three times before it was drained and empty.

“You’re sure he’ll be alright?” Ingrid asked, leaning forward to look at Ballantine a few seats away.

“That’s what he said,” Ballantine replied. “And I trust Ronald to know his own limits.”

There were the sounds of breaking glass and crunching metal from the other ship then the Harris-Logan thing went flying up from the lower decks.

“NOOOOO!” the thing roared. “This is my ship now! I will leave here and take over the world!”

“He’s got a more fucked up ego than you do, Ballantine,” Max said.

“Oh, I doubt that,” Ballantine replied.

“Have I missed anything?” Gunnar asked as he stepped onto the deck. “Ronald alright?”

“So far,” Shane said, patting an empty seat. “Take a load off.”

“Can’t,” Gunnar said. “Lucy is still not out of the woods. She lost a lot of blood. I’m going back to the infirmary right now. I just wanted to see if—OH, DAMN!”

Everyone jumped from their seats. Or the ones that felt like jumping did. They cheered and clapped their hands as Ronald lifted the Harris-Logan thing over his head then brought it down across his knee, snapping the things back in two.

There was a long, low howl and then silence.

Ronald walked the corpse over to the side of the ship and threw it overboard. The sounds of the sea dinos chomping down on the thing’s body quickly followed.

“We win,” Ballantine said, clapping politely. “Thank you, Ronald!”

Ronald waved to everyone as they thanked him as well.

“Okay, Grendel,” Thorne said, hefting himself to his feet. “One last sweep then we let Cougher go scavenge for parts.”

“You are sitting your ass down,” Darren said to Thorne. “You are in no condition to do a deck by deck sweep with that wound in your side.”

Thorne looked to Gunnar who shook his head.

“Not a chance, Vincent,” Gunnar said.

“Fine,” Thorne said. “But I want open coms the whole way. I ask what’s going on and you answer me before I even ask the question.”

“Control freak much?” Max whispered loudly.

“Come on, Grendel,” Darren said. “One last mission then we help haul equipment over here.”

There were some complaints, but not many since everyone was simply glad to still be living and able to haul equipment.

The deck cleared off quickly, leaving Thorne and Ballantine alone in the chairs.

“You know I have a lot of questions,” Thorne said.

“And you know I probably won’t answer many of them,” Ballantine laughed. “Hell, I probably don’t have answers to half of them, anyway.”

“Nothing on that island made sense,” Thorne said.

“You’re telling me,” Ballantine said and turned to look Thorne directly in the face. “I set this island up to recreate prehistoric biospheres, with some modern touches added, in order to study new creatures and how they react in different environments. The scientists I put in charge went well beyond that, lost their fucking minds, and turned it all to shit.”

“I am getting a lot of conflicting stories,” Thorne said. “Kinsey has one, you have one, what that Liu thing told me was another. Very few of the facts mesh and I have no idea what to believe.”

“I’m right there with you,” Ballantine said. “I don’t know what to believe either. It’s best we just forget this place and move on.”

“And where are we moving on to?” Thorne asked. “How many of these secret islands do you have?”

“Too many,” Ballantine said and stood up. “And I am willing to wager that more than a few of them are no longer secret. When it went to hell here, the island became visible to satellites once again. How many more have become visible? No way to know until we get there.”

“Why?” Thorne asked.

“Why what?” Ballantine asked as he walked towards the main hatchway.

“Why do we have to get there?” Thorne asked. “Don’t you think it’s time to call it quits? Whatever you hired us for in the beginning has gone completely off the rails. Let it go, Ballantine.”

“I wish I could, Commander,” Ballantine said. His face looked tired, haggard. “God, I wish I could. But there are few things that happened on this island that makes me think the others aren’t staying as isolated and anonymous as they should be.”

“What does that mean?” Thorne asked.

“Not sure yet,” Ballantine shrugged. “I’ll let you know as soon as I do.”

He walked through the hatchway, leaving Thorne to himself as the voices of Team Grendel began to fill the com in his ear.

***

The Beowulf III steamed at a steady ten knots south and east.

Lake glanced from the view out of the bridge windows and down at the control console every once in a while to make sure their heading was correct. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, bored out of his mind.

“Anything yet?” Kinsey asked as she and Darren stepped onto the bridge from the outside hatch.

Kinsey was dressed in a bright red bikini and looking healthy and rested. Three weeks of no fighting, no running, just steaming along the South Pacific Ocean, was a good thing for the body. Darren, dressed in blue swim trunks, looked tanned and equally as satisfied as Kinsey.

“Nope,” Lake said. “Just water.”

“Ballantine said we’d be reaching the next island any day now,” Darren said.

“Yeah, I know,” Lake replied.

“What’s up your butt?” Darren asked.

“We ran out of beer,” Lake said. “I had a stash, but I drank it.”

“Oh, well,” Kinsey said and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sure you can find something to do instead of drink.”

“You only say that because you’re an ex-junkie and sober,” Lake said. He looked at Darren. “Help me out here, D. You feel my pain, right?”

“The boys are finally all out of weed,” Darren said. “There’s a lot of pain going around.”

“Welcome to sobriety, bitches!” Kinsey yelled and raised her hands in the air. “Woo hoo!”

“You suck, Thorne,” Lake said.

“You know what, Marty? No, I don’t,” Kinsey said. “In fact, I’m pretty far from sucking.”

She gave Lake a quick kiss on the cheek then left the bridge. Darren watched her go and placed a hand on Lake’s shoulder.

“We’ll get to civilization soon, Marty,” Darren said. “Ballantine wants us to check out this one island first, though. He said there should be plenty of supplies, so maybe they’ll have beer.”

“You really believe that?” Lake laughed. “We’ll be lucky if whatever is on this island doesn’t drink us like beer. We barely got away from the last one with our lives.”

“Says the guy that never stepped foot off this ship,” Darren said then smiled before Lake could protest. “All good, Marty.”

There was a crack and Lake jumped.

“Chill, it’s just Max and Shane up in the crow’s nest with Ingrid,” Darren said. “She’s getting a crash course in sniper school.”

“Lucky her,” Lake said. “She gets to do something different.”

“You want me to take over being captain again?” Darren asked.

“You will have to pry this helm from my dead fingers, D,” Lake said. “No way I’m letting you have my ship.”

“Our ship,” Darren said then left the bridge before Lake could argue.

Lake watched him go then said, “My ship.”

***

Lucy sat in the mess, only a small bandage on her neck, as Kinsey came in to grab a drink.

“Just ran out of powdered lemonade,” Lucy said, holding up a plastic cup. “Want the rest of mine?”

“I’m fine with water,” Kinsey said. “How’s the neck today?”

“I managed to make it through the week without tearing my stitches,” Lucy said. She tapped the bandage. “Gunnar says that’s a record for me.”

“Listen, my dad has been talking,” Kinsey said.

“I know,” Lucy said. “He found me this morning after breakfast.”

“Oh, cool,” Kinsey said. “Uh…what did he say to you?”

“You don’t know?” Lucy asked.

“I’d rather hear it from you,” Kinsey said. “In case his plans changed.”

“He’s benching me,” Lucy said. “I’m no longer on the Team. Not on the main Team anyway. I guess he’s starting a ship security protocol since we always get boarded and have our asses handed to us before something saves the day.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Kinsey said, a little too brightly because Lucy gave her a sharp look. “I don’t mean the benching you part. But the ship does need a dedicated security detail when we’re off on ops. You’d be the veteran operator, so it would pretty much be your team.”

“Yeah, your dad said as much,” Lucy replied. “How long have you known?”

“We talked about it while you were still recovering in the infirmary,” Kinsey said. “My dad wasn’t going to even mention it to you unless the whole Team agreed.”

Kinsey sat down and looked Lucy in the eyes.

“We’ve almost lost you twice, Luce,” she said. “It’s been dumb luck, but you know how things are. Sometimes luck is the only sign you’re given.”

“I know,” Lucy said. “You guys are right. If I go on an op with the Team, half of you will be watching my back and waiting for me to take another bullet or get slashed or whatever. That puts the Team in danger.”

“True,” Kinsey said. They were quiet for a couple minutes. “I’ll miss you out there.”

“Miss me? Didn’t your dad tell you?” Lucy said. “You’re staying on the ship with me.”

“What?” Kinsey cried.

“Got ya,” Lucy laughed. “Man, that felt good.”

“You bitch,” Kinsey said and smiled. She stood up and stretched. “You staying here? I’m going to shower and get dressed then head to the observation deck for the sunset. Want to join?”

“You and Darren?” Lucy asked.

“Everyone,” Kinsey said.

“Yeah, come grab me on your way up,” Lucy said. “I’m going to chill in here for a bit.”

“Cool,” Kinsey replied. “See ya in a minute.”

***

The shower room was already filled with steam when Kinsey stepped into it. She set her clothes on the bench and walked towards the sound of running water.

“Darby?” Kinsey asked as she saw the woman crouched on the floor of the shower, her head resting on her knees. “Darby, are you alright?” She hurried over to her and placed a hand on Darby’s shoulder. “Darby?”

“I’m fine,” Darby said and lifted her head. Her eyes looked hollow and sunken in.

“You don’t look fine,” Kinsey said. “And you’re wrinkled like a fucking giant prune. Come on, let’s get you dry.”

She helped Darby to her feet, shut off the water, and walked her to a bench. She set Darby down and grabbed a towel for her, wrapping it around her shoulders.

“What’s going on?” Kinsey asked.

“Nothing,” Darby said.

“Bullshit,” Kinsey responded. “Out with it or I go get Max.”

“No!” Darby snapped then shook her head. “Don’t get Max. He’s already freaking out because of the nightmares.”

“Nightmares?” Kinsey asked. “What nightmares?”

“I don’t know,” Darby said. “When I wake up, I can’t remember them. I just know that something very bad happened in them. I’m always drenched in sweat and Max is trying to hold me down because I thrash so hard I almost cracked his skull open one night.”

“Jesus,” Kinsey said. “Have you talked to Gunnar about this?”

“Gunnar? No. Why would I talk to him?” Darby asked.

“He is a medical doctor,” Kinsey said. “And he helped me through the rough patches when I was getting clean.”

“But you’ve been friends with him since childhood,” Darby said. “He can’t help me. I’m losing my mind. That’s not the same as chemical dependency.”

“You are not losing your mind,” Kinsey said.

“Yes, Kinsey, I am,” Darby argued. “I keep having this feeling I’m not who I think I am. Then I’ll get flashes of memory that aren’t my memory. I know I didn’t live them.”

“That’s probably your subconscious feeding you stuff from your nightmares,” Kinsey said.

“Or my nightmares are being fed by my memory,” Darby said quietly. “A memory I can’t hang onto.”

“Fuck that,” Kinsey said. She punched Darby in the shoulder. Hard. “Get your ass dried and dressed, girl. I’m going to shower then we’re all heading to the observation deck to watch the sunset. You are joining us.”

“I really don’t feel like going to watch a sunset,” Darby said. “I’m going to go to my quarters and lie down.”

“Bullshit,” Kinsey said, a sense of déjà vu over her conversation with Lucy. “You’re joining us. No arguments. Now get dressed and get your tiny ass up on deck.”