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SotF Chap 5 part 3
By Mr Goodbytes
Chapter 5 part 3: Baryonyx
Troy Buckley stumbled down a steep embankment. His body tumbled fast. Stones and branches bashed his frame, and ripped his clothing. Pain rippled throughout his every limb. He came to a sudden stop, smashing face first into the hardened earth. He raised his head, cursed, then darkness closed in around him.
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“You are the last person in the world I expected to see,” Katie said to Grant.
“I’m just cleaning up the mess I made.”
“You made?”
“Yes. I caused it all when I escaped. I should have just stayed.”
“No,” Katie said in a soothing voice, “Biosyn made the mess, you just knocked over the dumpster.”
Even as she said it, she realized that the words came out wrong. Grant smiled anyway. He knew what she had meant. Alan sensed that she felt embarrassed, so he quickly changed the subject.
“We’ve been tracking that Sucho for quite some time now,” He said, “We were able to lock on to the radio signals used by the collars and implants.”
“So, you can track all of the dinosaurs?”
“Yes, but only at a short distance. Only a couple hundred meters or so…”
A loud beeping alarm sounded, and a small red dot appeared on the GPS unit.
“Speak of the devil… We’ve got another one,” Grant said “Approximately one hundred and fifty meters southeast.”
The translator informed the troops, and the caravan moved in for the attack.
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Troy Buckley cursed aloud as he stood. His face was swollen and extremely sore. He glanced at his watch. The face was smashed, but it was still ticking. He had been unconscious for only a minute and a half. Buckley wondered how far he had gotten. It wasn’t very far.
“Damn,” he said to himself aloud, “I should have just stayed put.”
He was lost. The long fall and brief unconsciousness had left him in a daze. Buckley finally decided to find refuge nearby until he got his bearings back. Just as he found suitable shelter, a low animal call sounded off to his left. It was a rather large animal by the sound. Buckley shivered as a wave of fear rolled over him. With such a large animal around, he wondered if crawling into a rotten log was the safest thing to do…
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Alan exited the truck. He needed to get close enough to make identification. Since he was the only dinosaur expert, it was his responsibility to identify all species and to assess the risk. The other two groups sent images via a direct satellite feed. Grant, on the other hand, had to go in on foot, taking the infantry with him for protection. Katie had wanted to come along. Grant convinced her that she was safer in the vehicle. The truth was that she was inexperienced and loud. They moved stealthily among the heavy undergrowth. Extensive military training allowed the infantry to move undetected through the jungle. Countless personal encounters, however, made Alan even more silent. As they made their way through the dense undergrowth, they began to hear the animal moving nearby. It was very close. Grant signaled for the team to halt. The sound was emanating from behind a large stand of monkey-tail ferns. Some of the ferns were over twelve feet tall! Grant pushed a smaller fern aside slowly, staring at the monster beyond.
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Troy Buckley was lying on his stomach inside the rotting tree. Black muck and squirming insects covered his body. A large leech had attached itself to his face, and others were probably draining him in other locations. Heavy footsteps shook him every so often as a massive beast circled the area. Buckley had no clue what kind of dinosaur it was, but it was defiantly a predator. He had seen the animal’s large feet beyond the log opening. Whatever it was, it stopped frequently to sniff the air around the log. It knew he was close. It could smell his blood. The beast just couldn’t figure out where Buckley was.
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I sure wish I had some of that perfume on me, was Alan Grant’s first thought when he spied the dinosaur in front of him. Alan’s last memory of the animal was of it dying to protect him. He was almost unafraid. That is, until the Baryonyx looked directly at him! Grant froze. Luckily, it hadn’t noticed him. He could see the animal breathing deeply. It was sniffing a fallen tree. Heavy armor, like the plates on a crocodile, covered the dinosaur. It would take a lot of firepower to bring it down. Grant turned away, telling the translator to signal for the grenadiers. Five men stepped forward. Each one carried a shoulder mounted RPG launcher. They loaded their weapons, preparing to fire. Unexpectedly, the Baryonyx roared. It had found something. It bent down. The dinosaur’s jaws opened wide. It clamped down hard on the log. The log splintered easily under immense jaw pressure. A scream came from inside the rotted tree trunk. There was someone inside!
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Buckley scrambled out of the log as the wood splintered close to his head. The damn thing had figured it out somehow. He made it out and to his feet. Buckley didn’t look back. He ran blindly away. Vibrations shook the ground hard. It was closing in on him. The dinosaur was so close that he could feel hot breath on his neck. Buckley knew he was going to die…
Chapter 5 part 4: Three for One
Coming Soon!
1/9/2003 9:55:09 PM
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