Jurassic Island: A Prehistoric Thriller Read online

  "Hell yes," he said, holding out his hand and taking the rope.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Between the combined expertise of Colt and Ken, the rope, anchors and harnesses were set up and ready to go in less than five minutes. It was then that Colt found himself standing on the very edge of the hole, looking down into the waiting darkness. He had a walkie talkie attached to the harness, to be used in case he found something of importance down below. Ken's flashlight was tucked in to the other side of the harness and to Colt, it felt like he was strapped with a sidearm.

  The other six members of the group looked at him and he saw a wide variety of looks: awe, fear, nervousness, and exhilaration. Joseph looked like he was about to jump out of his skin with excitement.

  "Be safe," Leslie said.

  He nodded, taking one final look down below. "Here goes nothing," he said and took the first leap down. As the rope swung out and he went gliding out, the rush of those old feelings came back. Sure, there was no camera crew with him and there would be no clever editing tricks to make his descent look good, but it was still just as exciting as he remembered.

  When he angled back towards the wall of the hole, the impact was soft. He adjusted himself, made sure everything was still attached and tight as it should be, and then started scaling down the side of the hole. He looked up to the lip of the hole and saw the faces of Liu, Leslie, and Joseph. Leslie gave him a tentative wave; it was clear that she was not used to being around men with an adventurous side.

  After two minutes of scaling down the side of the wall, Colt looked down and still saw nothing more than darkness. At that point, he was pretty sure that there would be no caverns, but an immense cave or chamber of sorts. If there was anything down here to be found, it would probably just be dead and rotting creatures from above, unfortunate enough to have fallen down here.

  He glanced up and saw that the light from overhead was growing smaller and smaller. He could just barely make out the shapes of two heads peering down at him.

  As he kept repelling down, a slight hiss of static sounded out from the walkie talkie. "Colt, this is Joseph. What so you see down there?"

  Colt unclipped the walkie talkie and pressed the SEND button. "More of the same," he said. "Just darkness. And quite frankly, I think I'm going to be running out of rope soon."

  "Go as far as you can," was Joseph's response. "Call me when you reach the end. If need be, we do have some climbing gear."

  "Roger."

  Colt clipped the walkie talkie back to the harness and kept going down. After another minute, the light from above was almost gone, leaving him in almost utter darkness. From somewhere below, he thought he heard something cry out…a distant screech that sent a chill through him.

  He un-holstered the flashlight and shone it down into the darkness. When he did, he saw two things; one was alarming, and the other was fascinating.

  The first thing he saw was that he was indeed about to run out of rope. Another ten feet or so dangled below his shoes.

  The second thing he saw was the musky-looking green colors below him, illuminated in the flashlight's beam.

  It was so unexpected that he let out a shout of surprise and jostled the rope. He inched down a bit more and then anchored himself to the side of the rock wall. He panned the flashlight around and was awestruck by what he saw. He'd seen a lot of sights that most people would never see in the course of their lives, but this topped them all.

  He retrieved the walkie talkie and clicked the CALL button. "Good news and bad news down here," he said.

  "Bad news first," Joseph's voice said.

  "I'm out of rope."

  "Good news?"

  "Well, there's a lot more down here than an empty cave. I see trees…trees everywhere. And from where I'm hanging, I can only see the tops. They look like they go on forever."

  There was about fifteen seconds of silence on the walkie talkie before Ken's voice came back. "Hey, Colt. Look…repelling down is one thing. How are you at rock climbing?"

  "Decent, I guess."

  "Okay. I'm going to tie a bag of stoppers and a few tri-cams down to you. You familiar with them?"

  "Enough to get from here to the ground."

  "Okay. If you can make it down, I think the rest of us can manage. I have another thirty feet of rope up here so that, plus the tri-cams and stoppers should be enough."

  This seemed a little dangerous to Colt; for someone that had never rock-climbed before, tri-cams and stoppers would be difficult to master. But he assumed that Ken knew what he was doing, so all he said in response was, "Sounds good."

  "Great. I'm sending the bag down now on a clip, attached to the rope. Make sure you don't miss it."

  "Just send it."

  Colt left the flashlight on and holstered it into his harness with the light facing up. He could now see a good thirty feet above him. He waited for the bag to come down along the rope, knowing that even if he missed it with his hands, it would be stopped by his harness. It took only twenty seconds before he saw the bag coming down rapidly, speeding through the darkness. Ken had run a carabiner clip through a large plastic bag. Colt let it come down the rope and waited until it was trapped between the rope and his torso.

  He looked down into the darkness below him and realized that this was going to be trickier than he had originally thought. Still anchored to the side of the rock wall, he sorted through the tri-cams and stoppers. The tri-cams were aluminum tools that would fit into the more noticeable cracks and crevices along the wall, ensuring a secure grip as their pointed ends were forced deeper into the rock as weight was applied to them. The stoppers were a little less effective but much easier to use. They did essentially the same thing but weren't quite as strong as the tri-cams. These would be placed in much more accessible areas that didn't require additional support.

  Climbing down was much harder than climbing up and he wished like hell Ken had been the one to come down here. Still, after repositioning the flashlight, it wasn't as hard as he had thought to get started. For one thing, the rock wall was not flat at all. There were numerous places along its surface that allowed for him to place his hands and feet without needing the assistance of the tri-cams. Still, he placed a few along the course down for those overhead that might not be the best at rock climbing.

  As he worked, he heard a series of deep cries coming from within the masked world of green beneath him. While the noises weren't necessarily threatening, they unmistakably came from the throat of something very large. Colt took a deep breath, steadied himself, and kept winding his way down the cavern wall.

  It took him about twenty minutes, but he finally managed to get to within sight of the cavern floor…if this place was indeed a cavern. After setting his last stopper along the wall, he allowed himself to free-fall the final ten feet or so, landing in a rolling position to remove some of the strain from his knees.

  When he was back on his feet, he pulled out the walkie talkie and said, "I'm down on the ground now. Send the next person."

  "Awesome. Okay. Joseph is coming down next."

  Colt took out the flashlight and took a good look at his surroundings for the first time. He'd heard of portions of jungles that were hidden in huge cave systems, but had never actually seen one before. It was nothing short of beautiful. While it looked very similar to the jungle they had just come through, there was something pure about it. It was untouched and every color he saw seemed to boast this fact.

  From very far away, he heard something crashing through the forest, a slow and lumbering noise that seemed to be moving farther away from him. The thought that there could be anything down here with him made him really wish that Ken had come down first. While they had not seen the creature that had apparently killed Chris and the driver, the fact remained that monstrous things apparently existed on this island. The image of that enormous shark—a megalodon, Leslie had called it—was still fresh in his mind.

  He was so caught up in his thoughts that someone cal
ling his name from overhead startled him. He glanced up, aiming the flashlight in that same direction, and saw Joseph at the end of the rope.

  "I'm not much in the way of rock climbing," Joseph said. "Can you walk me through this?"

  "Yeah," Colt said, walking back over to the wall and giving Joseph instructions of where to step. As he did this, he called back up to the surface on the walkie talkie to let Ken know that Joseph had arrived.

  "Great. Okay, Harvey's coming down next. I'll probably send Suzanne down behind him just to get things moving a little faster."

  "Got it."

  Joseph scaled his way down the wall rather impressively, looking back up into the darkness overhead like a man that has accomplished a major victory. He then looked behind him and peered into the lush forest ahead of them.

  "This is remarkable," Joseph said. "A hidden forest on a hidden island!"

  Colt nodded, not wanting to seem too overwhelmed by the find. There was a nearly lunatic joy coming off of Joseph that made Colt a bit nervous.

  "I wonder," Joseph said, "why it's not utterly dark down here, though?"

  Colt felt like an idiot for not having noticed this before, but Joseph was right. It should have been nearly pitch black down here, but there was some sort of golden glow that seemed to poke out of the forest every few feet. It wasn't until he noted this light that he saw that it was coming from far overhead.

  "It's probably thin spots in the ground," Colt said. "The same one Suzanne found the cold spots coming from."

  Joseph nodded enthusiastically as he stood before the waiting forest. "I'm glad you decided to come with me, Colt," he said. "I think this will be—"

  A blast of motion from overhead cut him off. They both looked up and all Colt could see was a black shape moving against the darkness. Whatever it was, it had a wingspan that was too large to even guess at. It had come rocketing out of the forest, skipping Colt and Joseph and heading for the darkness over their heads.

  "Oh shit," Colt said. He fumbled with the walkie talkie and called up to the surface. "Ken! You've got something headed your way. How far down are Harvey and Suzanne?"

  "No clue," he said. "Harvey should be just about—"

  But the scream that sounded out from overhead was answer enough. It was a scream of absolute terror that made Colt wince. He aimed the flashlight back up and could barely make out the shape of Harvey. But the large winged shape was up there, too. Another pterosaur, Colt thought. And it seemed to be attacking Harvey.

  Harvey was batting at it wildly, the rope gyrating and bouncing under his fright. The pterosaur cawed violently at him and darted its head out, its beak snapping in the air.

  Harvey wailed out in pain, bucking against the rock wall and the rope.

  "My God, what do we do?" Joseph asked.

  Colt didn't answer. He wasn't sure there was anything they could do. They were stranded down here while the others were either on the jostling rope, or up on the surface.

  The pterosaur attacked again, and this time the cry of pain from Harvey was almost non-human. There was a panic and something wet to it. Within seconds, something fell from the darkness and made a wet sound of impact just a few feet from Colt and Joseph. Colt knew that it was a mistake, but he trained the flashlight that way, anyway.

  It was Harvey's left arm, from the elbow down.

  "Oh my God," Colt said, suddenly fuming that he was helpless to do anything. He thought about screaming at the flying monstrosity, but what good would that do? There was no way he could effectively distract the thing long enough for everyone else to get down the rope or, if common sense prevailed, for Suzanne and Harvey to get back to the surface.

  Overhead, Harvey was still wailing. The rope trembled beneath him and he started spinning. His back arched and for a moment, it looked like he was going to fall.

  Colt was relieved to see that the harness still had him, but Harvey's screams had come to a stop. He was either dead or in shock.

  That silence, however, was short-lived. It was replaced less than two seconds later by the defeated screams of Suzanne. Oddly, they seemed to grow louder.

  Then Colt saw Suzanne's falling shape in the flashlight beam and all he could do was avert his eyes as she fell faster, finally coming to a stop with a sick meaty thud as she struck the ground.

  "Colt!" This was Ken's voice, barking through the walkie talkie. "Can you see anything? What's happening down there?"

  Colt's tongue felt frozen for a moment and when he finally got it free, he was afraid he’d puke when he opened his mouth.

  "Colt?"

  "Suzanne just fell," he said. "Right off the rope. She hit hard. There's no way in hell she survived. Harvey is still in his harness and he's not moving. I don't see the pterosaur…I think it…"

  "It's coming up," Ken said. "It's coming…"

  And then the walkie talkie went dead.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Even in the gold-tinged darkness, Colt could see that Joseph was going pale. Maybe, Colt thought, it was catching up to him. Six people on that second boat had died because of his quest. Then, shortly after that, Chris and the driver had died. And now there were two other deaths on his hands.

  Colt now knew that Suzanne was dead. He had steeled up his nerves and walked over to her body. Blood was everywhere and her skull had been obliterated. He felt foolish looking for a pulse from her twisted wrist, but he wanted to be sure. He checked and there was nothing, as he had expected.

  He turned back to Joseph and waited for his anger to simmer down before speaking. "What now?" Colt asked.

  "I don't know. We have to wait to see how things are going topside."

  "How things are going?" Colt asked. "You mean how many more people die?"

  Joseph sneered at him but said nothing. He walked a few strides towards the jungle, his back to Colt.

  Colt put the walkie talkie to his mouth but before he could say anything, hoping to get Ken on the surface, another series of low roars came from the depths of the forest. Colt wasn't sure, but these sounded a little closer than the first ones he'd heard. All of the human screaming and the smell of blood were likely attracting something.

  Great, he thought. This can’t get any worse. We’re totally fu—

  That's when he heard a beast-like cry of pain that took him off guard. It was coming from overhead and when he looked up, Colt was sure that what he was seeing wasn't real. Maybe he'd been hit on the head on his way down the rock wall. Hell, maybe he'd fallen, whacked his head, and all of this was an illusion.

  What he saw was the pterosaur, flailing wildly as it half-fell and half-flew towards them. There was something on its back, moving frantically, as if trying to stay on. Colt had to move quickly with the flashlight, but the reality of what was happening was finally illuminated.

  Liu was positioned on the back of the creature, one hand holding tightly to its large right wing. His other hand though, was gripping something along the creature's back. As Colt watched, Liu drew the object upwards, removing it from the pterosaur.

  A sword, Colt thought. He’s using a sword. The man is insane.

  Liu brought the sword down again, this time burying it directly at the base of the pterosaur's head. It gave one final flap of its large wings and then its head went limp. The thing fell to the ground with dead weight and Liu drew his sword out, waiting for the opportune time to bail out.

  What he hadn't been expecting, though, was that the pterosaur's body would careen slightly to the left. It struck the rock wall hard and when it did, Liu went sailing from its body.

  "Oh no," Joseph said from beside Colt.

  He was seeing the same thing Colt was seeing. The man had just killed a dinosaur with a sword and was now falling at least thirty feet to the ground. Instinctively, they both ran over to him. Liu hit the ground a few moments after the body of the pterosaur and Colt wished he hadn't heard the slight cry of pain. So far, Liu had proven himself to be the next best thing to a superhero. He had blown the megalodon to
bits and had followed that up with stabbing a pterosaur in the back of the head. To hear him utter any sort of pain felt almost blasphemous.

  They reached his side and Colt was amazed to see that he was slowly sitting up on his own. "Liu! Are you okay?"

  "I'll live," he said.

  "I'm sure you will," Colt said. "Can you stop being a badass long enough for me to look you over for…ah hell!"

  Liu's left arm was bent back in a way that an arm should not bend. It was clearly broken, hanging limp by his side.

  "Okay…your arm is broken," Colt said.

  "Yes. Feels that way."

  Joseph was looking at the broken limb, astonished. "When Leslie gets down here, we'll see what she can do for you."

  "For now," Liu said, not showing an ounce of pain in his voice, "I want my katana. It's still buried in the beast's head."

  "Sure," Colt said, getting up and going over to the carcass of the pterosaur. Standing beside it, he became aware of just how big the thing was. There was blood around its beak, likely from where it had chewed through Harvey's arm. Though it was dead, there was something majestic about it. It was a thing of beauty and fear all at once, bringing back memories of playing with plastic dinosaurs in his sandbox as a kid.

  As Colt retrieved the katana, pulling it effortlessly out of the creature's head, the walkie talkie crackled again. "Colt," Ken said. "You there?"

  "I'm here," he answered, taking the sword back to Liu. "How are things up there?"

  "We're all good up here, thanks to Liu. Did he…is he…?"

  "The man rode a pterosaur through the air and stabbed it in the back of the head with a katana. He's a badass."

  "He lived?"

  "Yeah. But his arm's broken. But I don't know that we could convince him of that."

  "We need to know what the boss wants," Ken said. "Does he want me and Leslie to stay up here, or does he want us down there?"