The silurian bridge, p.17
The Silurian Bridge, page 17
The herd had never before encountered Brandt’s laser cannon. But they had obviously run into the carnivores before, because they immediately decided those horrors were their biggest threat. So they charged again, en masse, right toward Casey and Brandt.
Brandt lifted his cannon again, but noticed the charge was running low. And there were at least twenty animals running at him now in a wall of fear and muscle, and the ground beneath his feet was shaking.
“Okay. Nope.” He turned and ran, following Casey.
The pair of HAWCs headed to a massive knot-like growth of roots. There was no path through, but it was the largest thing close by that might give them shelter from the stampeding beasts.
The running herd enticed the carnivores. Also, hardwired into a predator’s DNA was the inclination to choose their prey based on size or weakness, and one of the wolf-beasts spied the small and slow-moving pair of bipedal creatures out in front and went for them instead.
The bear trap–toothed mountain of fury charged at Casey, who spotted it when she glanced over her shoulder.
“Incoming,” she yelled, and then realized she wasn’t going to be able to outpace the horror. So she turned to face it.
It was on her in the blink of an eye, but she raised her newly acquired MECH arm and with lightning speed brought it down on the center of the animal’s skull just as the huge jaws opened to take her in.
There was a crunch like the breaking of a giant eggshell as her fist sank into the bone to crush the brain matter. The huge creature dropped dead at her feet.
Casey yanked her gore-covered arm out and looked down at the thing as it juddered in its final death throes. “That’s right; fuck you.” She grinned, but then saw more of the beasts charging her position. She turned and ran.
From behind them the sound of the massacre was near ear-splitting as screams mixed with roars and tearing flesh filled the air, along with the salty scent of fresh blood as a cloud of pink mist rose over the kill site.
Casey and Brandt made it to the twisted, slimy roots just as some of the huge bovine-like creatures rumbled past them.
As they scaled higher, Casey saw the gleam of water through the foliage around them. That probably meant the seashore or a lake was beyond – it was what they were looking for.
Many of the lumbering beasts charged onward, around the root structure they were in, and hit the water, barreling in before beginning to swim.
The HAWCs grabbed the root-like growths and swung up quickly as the sound of the slaughtering got closer below them. About twenty feet up, Casey turned and saw there were about six of the huge predators, and no matter which way she looked at them she couldn’t determine if they were mammal, reptile, or something else altogether. But they were huge, powerful, and had leather-like, folded skin all over their bodies that looked like large armor plating. As she stared she thought they reminded her of a cross between a wolf and a Komodo dragon, but stubby and more powerful, and with the backward-curving teeth or tusks. They were bigger than those of any land predator she had ever seen.
“What the hell are they?” Brandt spat.
“Something straight from Hell,” Casey replied. “Or from a Silurian Hell.”
Brandt turned to peer through the root tangle. “Through there must be the sea that we were supposed to make it to. Perhaps we can use the raft and go around all these monsters.”
Casey nodded. “Not a bad idea. It’s where our team expected to catch up to the NKs.”
There was a scream from the direction of the sea, and the pair swung around to see that about a dozen of the plant eaters had found themselves out in deeper water.
“Something’s going on out there.” Casey squinted through her night vision lenses. “The water; there’s something else in there with them.”
The water began to thrash and churn, and the animals started swimming back toward the shore. Then the pair saw what was instigating the second panic – around the bison-reptiles who were furthest out, huge jaws erupted, crushed several together and dragging them down in seconds.
“Well, that’s just fucking great. Monsters on shore, monsters in the water.” Casey bared her teeth. “Welcome to paradise.”
“I’m guessing that the idea of taking to the water right now just got nixed,” Brandt said dryly.
“Nope. The NKs will take to the water, and I know the boss will too.” Casey shrugged. “It’s our only chance to find ’em.” She watched the massacre out in the water for a while longer. “But maybe we don’t launch from here.”
“Yeah, that works for me.” Brandt chuckled. “So what now?” He looked up over the sights of his huge laser cannon, noticing it had nearly restored to full charge. “We could just sit here for a week until they initiate the bridge home; that’ll still work, right?”
“We’re on a mission, and the Arcadian brought us here for a reason. We use our brains to find a way to join the party.” Casey retracted her visor. “Remember what Bern said? If you wanted to fuck up Uncle Sam’s oil supply by nuking the places where it formed, where would you go?” she asked.
Brandt bobbed his head as he thought about it. “Where the biggest deposits are, or are going to be, and, uh, that would be . . .” He shrugged. “Maybe New Mexico, and around there, I think.”
Casey nodded. “It’s where I’d target. And I bet that’s why the NKs started from here – they’re thinking the same.” She nodded south. “And that’s that way.” She turned back to her partner. “Maybe we can pick up their trail.”
“Unless they take to the water,” Brandt replied.
“That’s right,” she said. “But we keep going and see if our comms can pick our team up as we get closer.” She grinned. “And on the way, you might just get a chance to use that big-ass blaster again.”
“You see what this bad boy did back there? That cow fucking exploded like a balloon full of hot jello.” Brandt grinned, lifting the weapon. “And I didn’t bring it just because it looks good on me.” His expression became serious. “Let’s do this, Franks.”
Casey nodded. The water behind them had settled to stillness again. But when she turned back the other way, she saw that the carnage on the killing field continued. “Okay, then. Make a hole.”
Brandt lifted the cannon, reset the pulse size, targeted the biggest predator, and fired. The massive toothed beast was hunched over a dead animal one minute, and the next there was a hole a foot wide in the side of its body.
Its eyes went wide before it simply fell over on its side, its heart not only having stopped beating, but completely gone. There was no blood as all the tendons, veins, and arteries had been seared closed.
“You like that, hell pig?” Brandt guffawed. “You want some more?” He put a hole in another one.
“Make room, the real killers are in town,” Casey said as the other animals scattered. She slid down to the ground. “Okay, Beast, let’s double-time it.”
***
Alex was in the front of the torpedo-shaped boat. Cooper was next in line. Gonzalez was at the rear, with Ito close to their prisoner on the port side.
The North Korean, Zhang, groaned and held his wrist. Ito ignored him.
“Is the pain bad?” Cooper asked.
Zhang stared for a moment. “I no understand.”
Cooper pointed at his stump. “Pain.” She grimaced and held her own hand. “Bad hurt?”
Zhang nodded. Cooper turned to Alex who had his back turned. “Can I give him some morphine? Might keep him quiet.”
Alex half-turned and shook his head. “No. That’s our stock.” He looked down at the man. “He’s Special Forces; he can deal with the pain.”
Cooper frowned and shook her head. “His groaning is not great for stealth traveling.”
Alex turned. “If it was one of us who’d been captured, we’d be silent. Because we’d already be dead.” Alex glanced at the North Korean. “Right?”
Alex saw Zhang’s eyes quickly shift away. In that split second, Alex knew the man understood every word they were saying.
Alex stared for a moment longer, but the NK kept his eyes on the bottom of the boat. Alex faced front again, but his senses were now split between potential dangers ahead, and those within their own boat.
The craft moved at around five knots, and even though the propulsion was a near-soundless jet, the push of water around the bullet-shaped bow still created tiny waves and made a small noise.
From time to time, Alex saw swells and eddies out on the oil-slick calm water, and he knew from their appearance that there were creatures below that were of considerable size. He and his HAWCs were ready, but even though the framework of the boat had exceptional strength, he knew a serious attack would destroy it.
Behind them, the shoreline was shrinking to little more than a line on the horizon, and their direction would lead them even further out into the wider sea and deeper water – and deeper water meant even bigger predators.
It was just a few moments later that Alex’s senses prickled, warning him of an impending attack. But it was from close by.
Alex spun, his body able to react far faster than any normal human, and was in time to see the North Korean lunge at Bernadette Cooper and punch her with his stump. The protruding bone spiked her exposed cheek and would have been extremely painful – for both of them. But in the few seconds of her shock, Zhang grabbed her blade from its sheath.
The man yanked it free but didn’t try to thrust it into Cooper or one of the HAWCs, instead going for the boat’s ribbing, obviously hoping to penetrate it or at least severely damage it.
Cooper yelled, and the other HAWCs lunged, and before the man could stab the blade in, Alex moved almost in a blur and grabbed the North Korean’s wrist.
Alex held it with one hand, his own expression deadpan, and the man stared back, his eyes momentarily blazing in surprise and anger. Then he grimaced as Alex exerted more pressure and the man’s remaining hand bent back until there was an audible snap of bone. The blade dropped and Cooper snatched it up.
Alex stared into the man’s face. “Remember when I said if you behaved we’d keep you alive?”
The man just stared, pain, fury, and defiance still in his eyes.
“You failed.” In a single motion Alex yanked the man from his seat and threw him over the side and a good twenty feet out from the boat.
As the man spluttered to the surface, Gonzalez waved. “That’s for the bullet, asshole.”
Alex faced front as Cooper protested.
“He was an enemy prisoner,” she said as she held a hand to her bleeding face. “He was an asshole, but there are laws, rules, about that.”
Alex turned slowly. “Agent Cooper, you’re lucky to not be sitting here with only one eye right now. Or be dead.” Alex stared. “We’re 420 million years before those laws and rules you mention even exist.” He smiled, but there was zero humor in his expression. “Besides, he might make it to shore.”
Ito grunted. “And now, I think, that solves a problem for us.” The Japanese HAWC turned back to the front. “Because now we can dive.”
Alex nodded. “That it does, Mr. Ito. Everyone, prepare to go deep.”
He watched Cooper for a moment as she quickly placed a med-pad on her painful but thankfully superficial wound. Cooper winced. ‘That little bastard,’ she muttered.
She refused to turn to where they could still hear the man floundering in the water, and her expression was untroubled as she engaged her clear visor.
Alex turned back to the front and in the next few seconds, their visors all engaged, the craft sank below the dark water.
***
Lingyun Zhang came to the surface and tried to suck in a ragged breath, but instead drew in a lungful of the bath-warm salty water. He coughed, gagged, and then vomited.
He found it extremely hard trying to stay on the surface with only one hand – and a broken one at that – and the salty water made the seared skin on the end of his stump sting like fire.
He watched the American craft head away. And then it submerged. He stared in disbelief – not one of them had even looked back. He had been schooled all his life into believing Americans were weak and stupid, and he had expected them to give him a warning, and maybe tie him up. But not throw him over the side.
He turned about and saw the faintest line of land to the west. It must have been nearly a mile away, but there was no fear of hypothermia in the warm water. It would be hard, though, and his missing hand was an enormous liability that would tax his energy and speed. And that meant fatigue might catch him before he finally got there.
He began to swim in breaststroke style, and immediately had to adjust to the missing limb as he couldn’t scoop water and made little forward progress.
It took ten minutes before he managed to craft a stroke that achieved maximum speed, and just as he was making good progress, he felt something surge past beneath him. He smiled; the Americans had come back. What he had learned about them had been correct after all, and they would pick him up.
Zhang would be happy to be tied up, and he would act defeated and groggy, and if it took an hour, or a day, or several, he knew another opportunity for sabotage would present itself. And next time, he would act faster.
The surge came again, closer this time; close enough to push him slightly off course. Lingyun Zhang ducked his head below the surface and looked down, hoping to catch a glimpse of the submarine boat.
The water was clear, and the sun was high enough in the sky now to create shawls of sunlight that hung down for at least fifty feet. But beyond that it became darker and then became a pitiless black.
Something passed underneath him just on the edge of the blackness, and a second or two later he felt the surge wave again. The thing had been moving fast, very fast, and he suddenly doubted the American craft had that capability.
Lingyun lifted his head, sucked in a deep breath, and then looked back down into the depths. As he watched, this time he saw something rising from the dark-blue gloom, something that grew in size. He only needed a few seconds more to know it wasn’t the submarine boat. And it was coming up. Straight up.
He jerked his head up to scream uselessly for help.
The monstrous sea creature breached the surface and its gigantic jaws displaying huge, dagger-like teeth that reminded him of prison bars opened wide to take him in.
The colossal prehistoric eel was ribbed with cartilage rather than bone, which was one of the reasons it never fossilized. But it was a 100-foot-long pipe of solid muscle.
It hunted in the upper layers of the primitive sea, and a morsel like Zhang was a welcome gift.
The last thing Lingyun Zhang saw were those long, dagger-teeth prison bars closing around him, shutting out the light forever.
CHAPTER 25
Something must have gone wrong, Sam thought, for perhaps the hundredth time. How long had he been stranded here now, a year, ten? He had long ago lost track of time.
His huge body was shackled, and he was being dragged up toward the mountain pass by the Philistines.
His blond hair had been tied back, but it still hung almost to his waist, and his beard touched his chest. At six-foot-five he was tall back home, but here he was a giant among men, and his huge shoulders exploded outwards, carrying massive log-like arms that were currently tied at the wrists with two-inch-thick course rope.
He muttered to himself, lost in his own thoughts. Everything he had had been taken from him and destroyed, and he was dressed in only a loin cloth. Even the precious, tattered picture of his beloved Alyssa was gone, and he wondered if she even remembered him. Of course, in the here and now, she wouldn’t exist for several thousand years.
How long, how long, how long?
He had stayed in this land because where else could he go? At this time, America was populated by many small native American nations. And England was still in its Bronze Age.
So, he had embedded himself with the Nazarites, and it had been peaceful. But only for a while. Because he quickly learned that the Philistines subjugated them and were a cruel and tormenting race. Many times he had defended the Nazarite shepherd folk from them.
For this, his reputation as their defender had grown. That had earned him the ire of the Saran, who had originally wanted him to join their army. When he had refused, forcibly, the Philistines had branded him an enemy and an outlaw.
His great size and strength made him outlier and outlaw both, and there was a bounty on his head. In the end the Saran had ordered that a dozen Nazarites would be killed per day unless Samson was handed over to them.
Sam knew that the Nazarites wanted to protect him, but he also knew they really had no choice. And so, he had finally allowed himself to be captured to avoid the Nazarites being massacred and having their villages burned to the ground.
They were brave, and shouted courageous words of support as he was led away, but they all knew that without him as their protector and their champion, they would soon be put under the whip and the sword.
The Philistines led Sam up through the steep and winding mountain pass of Ramath Lehi, miles away, at least, from the Nazarites.
Sam was lost in his thoughts, in his depression, and in his growing anger. How much longer must he endure this? Forever? Or until he was put to death?
He wondered how they would do it and what they would make of him – trying to behead him would not be easy as their blades would not be able to cut through the MECH endoskeleton that ran right throughout his internal muscular and skeletal system. And if they burned him alive, what would they think of the metallic skeleton left behind? They would think he was a demon.
Beside him, the closest soldiers jeered and tormented him every mile, and every step. He was more than a head taller than their biggest man, and they reveled in the fact that he was bound. They thought they had brought him low and rendered him harmless, but Sam had let them do this. He could break free when he wished, but he needed to be seen to be captured. Only then did the Philistines say they would leave the Nazarites in peace.
