Neo-Jurassic
Author: Carolyn McCray
Date: 2014-01-20 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Horror; international thriller
Description: **From the Carolyn McCray, the #1 author in Action/Adventure, Men's Adventure and Techno-Thrillers comes the post-apocalyptic blockbuster, Neo-Jurassic. This time there aren't any fences between us and the dinosaurs. Warning this book has intense action in the style of the Hunger Games. Please do not buy this novel unless you are prepared for a roller coaster ride through our future. Overview:** Five hundred years after we hit that not-so-mythical Tipping Point, the world plunged into a nuclear winter that counterbalanced global warming. A perfect climate for dinosaurs. However T. Rexs aren't
Publisher: Off Our Meds Multimedia LLC

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, places, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

NEO JURASSIC

An Off Our Meds Project/published by arrangement with the author

FIRST EDITION

Copyright 2014 by Carolyn McCray

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Any inquiries can be made to:

3524 South Star Lake Rd

Auburn, WA 98001
authormccray@aol.com

Neo-Jurassic: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller

**Warning this novel is a roller coaster ride filled with Indiana Jones-style action and young, in-peril characters similar to Hunger Games. Please do not purchase this book unless you are ready to buckle up and hang on for dear life!

Praise for Neo-Jurassic…

“The only thing I knew about this book was that it was going to have dinosaurs in it and it was going to be great! Ms. McCray did not disappoint! A book like no other it brings the past and future together and let's throw some humans together and you've got another great book to read! Dinosaur books are not exactly my favorite to read, but i found myself not wanting to put my kindle down until I found out what happened. Action through the whole book with a whopper of an ending! Never expected that! Can't wait to read the next book of this series.”

Candice

Amazon Reviewer

“Carolyn McCray has come up with another interesting story. Robots, dinosaurs and man all trying to survive on the same planet. Could it get any better? Can't wait for the sequel!”

Bjrcook

Amazon Reviewer

“I have no idea what kind of whacked-out imagination it takes to come up with a story line like this, but I wish I had one! McCray does a fabulous job drawing you into the story, making you believe some pretty unbelievable stuff! And her research is impeccable. A must read. I can't wait for the sequel!”

Peter M.

Amazon Review

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NEO-JURASSIC: The 1st full-length book of the post-apocalyptic thriller series, Our Future. Our Fault

CHAPTER 1

You probably should never try to out run a T. Rex, but hey, it was Tues-Wednesday so why not give it a try?

Appie dug her heels into the muddy ground, turning on a dime, lashing a hand out to catch the thin trunk of a sapling to make the sharp left turn she needed to save her life.

Slipping and sliding down a small embankment, Appie could hear the mighty roar of her opponent. He didn’t like it when prey slipped between his awkward little fingers.

The T. Rex didn’t have to grab any branches as he charged down the hill after her, knocking bushes and trees out of the way as if they were a child’s stick toys. Whereas she was crashing through the underbrush, protecting her face with her arms, taking a whipping on her extremities.

Finally she reached the clearing at the base of the hill. Appie sprinted across the lush grass, the sound of the T. Rex’s anger beating down on her. The ground underfoot shook with each of his heavy steps.

Dang, that thing was fast. She risked a glance over her shoulder. The T. Rex was so close that she could make out its pearly white teeth. So close that it took a swipe at her.

Appie leapt to the right, avoiding the gnashing teeth by only inches. She didn’t waste a single step as she landed, running at full speed, hurling herself toward a break in the hills that surrounded this small valley.

She could hear the T. Rex’s intake of breath just before he launched his fatal strike. Appie could imagine that he already tasted her flesh, relishing a nice appetizing afternoon snack.

With only a fraction of a breath in time, Appie rounded the corner as an enormous silver elephant charged through the breach. His metallic trunk rose up, trumpeting as loudly as the T. Rex roared.

The two hit at full speed. The elephant, Tonka, lowered his titanium tusks and rammed directly into the T. Rex’s chest. Unprepared, the T. Rex rocked back onto his tail, trying to bring his formidable teeth to bear, but this wasn’t Tonka’s first T. Rex mano-a-mano. The robotic elephant used his thick, pillar-like legs, pushing his tusks deep into the dinosaur’s chest bone.

The T. Rex’s mouth opened and closed, gasping in pain. But not even Tonka could finish off a T. Rex by himself. Already the dinosaur was swiping his tail back and forth, backing away. Once the T. Rex was free, those long teeth could penetrate even Tonka’s thick metal skin.

From the top of the ridge, Lev, their titanium lion leapt onto the T. Rex’s back, shredding his skin as he slid down his back, taking a huge yet strategic bite out of his tail. He’d bitten through the nerve bundle that supplied the tail muscle. The powerful tail suddenly went limp, throwing the T. Rex off balance.

Still, the monster wouldn’t go down.

Not until Mattu, his dark face striped in white, jumped from the ridge, landing on the T. Rex’s back. Appie’s dark mentor took a long sword and brought it across the dinosaur’s neck, slicing through both jugulars. Even T. Rexes bleed. The blood gushed down onto Tonka, staining the elephant’s shiny metal skin red.

Lev was gnashing his silver teeth against any flesh where he could find purchase.

Mattu rode the T. Rex down as the dinosaur faltered, stumbling to the ground. It was almost sad when the dinosaur tried to catch himself with those feeble little arms. Almost.

This T. Rex would feed her clan for the entire winter and given the chance, the T. Rex would have wiped out her village without a thought. So Appie didn’t feel too sympathetic.

With a great heave, the T. Rex finally fell over onto his side. Mattu jumped down beside Appie as the others of her clan ran out from cover to finish the T. Rex off and begin to harvest the meat, leather, and bone they would need to survive the winter.

Her mentor, her clan’s powwaw, patted her on the shoulder as he passed.

“Good hunting, Shawnee,” Mattu said, using the term to denote she was the clan leader.

“Not so much hunting as running,” Appie corrected him.

Mattu waved off her comment as he made his way to the T. Rex’s jaw and cut out one of its large teeth. Later he would burr a hole into the tooth and add it to his necklace. He had the most teeth of any powwaw she’d ever seen. Thirty-seven, now thirty-eight. At a gathering he could easily sell the necklace for enough sugar and flour to feed an entire clan for a year.

However, Appie knew he would never even consider bartering it, and the clan would never ask him to. He had earned those teeth. They were his and his alone. And he was still relatively young even though some snow was sprinkled amongst his dark strands. And lines etched his face that had not a dozen winters ago.

As the others did their work, Appie backed away and sat down on the thick grass. They had done it. Secured their food and shelter needs for the entire winter. It had taken months of planning and tracking, but they had done it.

Lavla waddled with her big belly over to sit next to Appie. Lavla was so near term that no one expected her to do much in helping with the harvesting of the T. Rex. If anything, they feared the excitement of hunt day might trigger her labor. Appie was glad to see Lavla sitting comfortably.

They still had some traveling to do before they made their winter camp. It would be harder to traverse the dangerous wilderness and avoid the dinosaurs that lurked within the Mojave Forest with a squalling infant.

“I can’t believe it worked,” Lavla said breathlessly. “You have saved us, again, Shawnee.”

Appie had been leader of this clan from the tender age of twelve after her parents had been killed four years ago.

Mattu could have made a power play after her parents' death in Fort Mendocino, but he had instead supported her, physically against any challengers and spiritually while she learned to be a Shawnee.

Learning to be a leader she reminder herself. She couldn’t get cocky at sixteen.

Lavla put a hand on her belly. “Ah, he is so excited too, he is kicking non-stop.”

Appie smiled as she allowed Lavla to put her hand on her expanded midriff. The baby was quite active, kicking with one foot and then the other. No one knew the father of the child Lavla grew in her belly. None had pressed the woman since it was her business and in most ways no one cared as long as she added to their number.

There were many rumors that Mattu was the father. He had taken in Lavla since her husband was killed five summers ago. There were few other men in the clan left to ponder. Appie doubted that Lavla had taken the toothless Old Man Grey to her bed or the young Dolph. He barely had peach fuzz on his chin.

That only left Mattu, Salvve who was bonded to Popi, Tin who spent his time with his head bent to his newest project, and poor Lik who had only mumbled to himself since his wife and three children had been killed by a raptor ambush.

Not exactly a wide playing field.

Lavla leaned back taking in a deep breath. “I will be glad to have my body back soon.”

Appie stood and offered Lavla a hand up, but she declined. “I think I will stay here for another few minutes. The sun is delightful this afternoon, is it not?”

Glancing up at the large glowing orb, Appie guessed that Lavla was right. The brutal heat of the summer had passed as they edged into fall. They had learned the hard way that the harsher the summer, the worse the winter that followed would be.

For a moment, Appie allowed the feeling of accomplishment and safety to flow through her. Seldom did one get to bask in even a moment of calm. Their lives were normally filled with pain and fear, under constant threat from any number of enemies.

Appie allowed herself a little treat. She swung her pack off her back and dug down to the bottom. She found what her parents had called a “slide viewer.” She pulled it out and put it up to her eyes, facing the light of the sun.

She looked with wonder that never ceased at the sight of what was once Disneyland. There was a funny giant mouse, waving to her, standing in front of a beautiful castle. Appie clicked the viewer and then a large yellow dog was dancing in front of an old world steam train.

A smile spread across her face. Her parents had loved their heritage, gathering the largest memorabilia collection of all the clans. They had lost much during the attack and had to leave even more in their exodus to a better territory, but Appie had clung to a few such treasures.

Then happiness was replaced by bitterness. How had her ancestors cast all this away? They had a beautiful, easy life, yet they had tempted fate. Gotten greedy. Had thought themselves invulnerable.

Dinosaurs, really? Seriously? Had they lost their minds? And robots. It wasn’t like they hadn’t seen iRobot or the Terminator. Smart robots were just the stupidest idea ever.

Unlike Tonka who walked over, his trunk swaying from side-to-side, a chunk of metal missing at the tip. She would need to go out salvaging soon to find a replacement part they could melt onto the breach.

The tip of his trunk was so soft, a mixture of various metals to create this flexible appendage.

She couldn’t be mad anymore, especially not at robots.

Appie pushed her forehead into his trunk. “Thank you, great man.”

Tonka pushed back lightly, stroking her cheek with the tip of his trunk. He’d been with her family since the last days of the union. Appie’s great, great, great grandfather had stormed a robotic theme park and stolen nearly the entire African savannah set.

Appie put the viewer away as Ruby, their steel ostrich, strutted from behind the T. Rex, her head bobbing as she made her way over. The ostrich didn’t have maybe quite the same usefulness as Tonka and Lev, however Appie loved her nonetheless. Plus she helped entertain the toddlers and kept them from wandering off. If the little ones strayed from the edge of the camp, Ruby would peck their behinds until they came back to hearth and home.

Clucking to her ostrich, Ruby came over and nuzzled Appie’s pockets. Even though the metallic ostrich didn’t need to eat, that didn’t mean she didn’t like the taste of grain.

There was no waste in this simple treat, Appie thought as the ostrich picked small bits of oats from her hand. The grain passed through Ruby whole, unchanged. It was the children’s duty to run around after Ruby and pick up the grain again. The ultimate in recycling.

If only her ancestors had been so frugal with their resources, they might not be in the mess that they were now.

Appie sighed as she stroked Ruby’s smooth neck. Orwell certainly hadn’t seen this future, that was for sure. She watched as the others began the herculean task of butchering the T. Rex. Getting the skin off to cure for leather would take at least a day. Then the meat. Removing it? Cutting it into manageable chunks, drying it? They would be in this little valley for weeks. Then to pack it all up and head out to their winter camp across the Rockies? They might see the first snowfall before they headed out.

Young and old were helping. The smallest children mainly just used the T. Rex’s body as a jungle gym where as the eldest of them supervised the tasks at hand. She really shouldn’t dally here with Ruby even though in theory, her job was over. Acting as bait, Appie couldn’t stand by when so much work was left to be done.

Appie hoped that Lavla could hold the baby in until then.

“Shawnee, tell me one of your stories,” Lavla called from behind Appie, patting the earth next to her. “The baby would like to hear one.”

Lavla knew there wasn’t much that could distract Appie from a task except telling stories from the old world. She reveled in them.

“A happy one,” Lavla said, wagging her finger. “None of that Shakespeare.”

Appie had just the one. They’d had the disc back at the Fort. Happy Feet, a cute penguin story, should suit Lavla.

Then a scream from behind startled Ruby who took off toward the rest of the clan. Appie spun around the see Lavla crawling backwards, away from an attacker.

Syns. The robots that never died, although they looked worse for the wear. Their original synthetic skin long ago had either worn away, or more likely was torn off by its wearer. After the nuclear holocaust, many Syns peeled off their own skin so they wouldn’t look like humans.

Now they decorated their titanium skeletons with drawings and decorations. It was unnerving to see a Syn with a happy face painted on its backbone.

Appie grabbed a branch even though she knew it wouldn’t even scratch the metallic skeleton of the Syn. But it did startle the robot enough to allow Lik to get Lavla to safety.

Then another four Syns came over the ridge. Apparently, Appie and Mattu weren’t the only ones tracking and planning. Tonka charged over, lowering his massive head and gouging the lead Syn with his tusk, throwing it high in the air then taking a swipe at the next one.

“Retreat!” Mattu bellowed from behind her.

Appie spun around to find the rest of her clan scurrying to safety. She wanted to stand and fight. Too many times they had lost their hunt to the Syns. This time should be different.

Mattu, though, did not flinch. “Retreat,” he ordered.

While technically she was the Shawnee of the clan, not even she would refuse a direct order from Mattu.

She patted Tonka on the leg and even though he seemed to want to continue the fight, he bent his leg and allowed her to climb up onto his back. She squeezed her left leg and the large silver beast swung away from the fight, carrying her back to her clan.

Several children were riding Lev and even Ruby had a toddler on her back. Lavla was being carried between Mattu and Lik, as the entire clan fled the T. Rex kill. Luckily, these Syns didn’t give chase. They seemed to be content to take over.

Even though they didn’t need the meat, they did use the leather much as Appie’s clan had, for shelter and clothing. But it was really the large bones that they needed.

Metal, especially substantial whole pieces of metal, were rare to non-existent. In order to repair any damage to their metallic skeleton, they needed high density bone. And it didn’t get much more high density than a T. Rex’s thigh bone.

She looked over her shoulder to find the Syns swarming all over the kill. Her kill. Her clan’s kill. Her clan’s survival. How were they going to survive the winter without it? They didn’t have time before the first snowfall to track another T. Rex and find a perfect ambush like this one. They had overstayed the fall to risk taking this T. Rex. Now they were heading to their winter camp, late and empty handed.

Despair threatened Appie’s balance. Then she looked ahead. Her clan wasn’t giving up. They were going to need her to be strong. To be their Shawnee. She would find a way. She had to find a way.

Appie and Tonka pulled up alongside Mattu and Lik.

“Give her to us,” Appie suggested.

They all had to pause their flight to make the exchange. Then, Lavla was sitting behind Appie as Tonka moved into the forward position, guiding them all to their secondary camp just behind the curve of the valley wall.

Mattu trotted up alongside, effortlessly keeping up with Tonka.

Appie kept her voice low so only the powwaw could hear her. “We should have stood and fought.”

Mattu didn’t even look up at her. “And lose how many in the failed effort?”

She could feel her cheeks flush. Her hands formed fists against Tonka’s back.

“We don’t know that it would have failed,” Appie pressed.

“Because magically we have new weapons we did not have the last two times we tried to stand our ground and were routed?”

She loved Mattu dearly. He truly had become her father, but at times she wanted to punch him squarely in the face. “There were only six of them.”

“That we saw,” Mattu reminded her.

He was the most annoying when he was correct.

The tribes of robots had been dwindling. Unlike humans who could breed to re-build their numbers, the robots were being killed off, slowly but surely. Boo-hoo. Maybe if they hadn’t nuked all of the large industrial cities around the world they might have had some spare parts.

It might have taken a few centuries, but the Syns were kind of knocked back on their heels. That didn’t mean they weren’t still dangerous. And they were cagey. On her second glance back at the T. Rex, it looked like that tribe was probably a dozen strong, if not more.

Mattu had been right. Again. It kind of got old.

She simply lowered her head. Her not arguing any more was more than enough of a concession that she had accepted Mattu’s advice. This is not how it happened in the old world movies. Heroes won. Arnold, Sylvester, Costner. The greater the odds stacked against them, the more assured they were of a win.

Why did it not happen that way in the real world? Had five-hundred years changed human’s luck that much? She was tired of running. Running from dinosaurs. Running from Syns. Running even from the weather itself. But she could not risk the clan in her own hubris.

“We are here,” Mattu announced as he guided them to a large opening to a cave in the side of the hill.

Appie slid off Tonka and helped Lavla down. The ceiling of the cave was far too low to allow them to stay atop the metallic elephant.

The clan assembled within the cave. There was a palpable sense of defeat. There were no songs of the hunt. Even the children were subdued. Their toddlers clung to their mothers. They could not go into the winter like this.

“All is not lost,” Appie said even though her heart felt that it was. She did not have the luxury of wallowing in her despair. Besides, she knew from the old movies that now was such a time for a rallying speech. Something to inspire her clan. What that was, she did not know though.

“Is it not?” Lik mumbled as he gently lowered Lavla to the ground. Perhaps he was the father of the child after all. He had been staying close to the woman ever since her belly widened.

“We have enough to barter at the gathering to get our necessities,” Appie stated, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

“But not all of them,” Mattu replied.

She turned to her mentor. The powwaw was usually supportive and a rallying figure. Where was the stirring speech of hope and resilience? Where was the story of losing her parents and how if they could survive that, they could survive anything?

The clan murmured their agreement. The whole reason they had taken on the risk of taking down a T. Rex was to assure their safety through the winter. Without it, there would be some hard choices to make in Winteruary.

“All is lost,” someone sighed. Appie couldn’t tell who. It could have been any of them. Heck, it could have been her.

“No, it isn’t,” Mattu said, standing tall amongst them.

Appie waited for their powwaw’s next words. They could save the clan’s life.

“There is the cryo-bunker,” Mattu stated, but Appie could barely believe she had heard the words. There had been rumors of a bunker for several summers. The gatherings were abuzz with the speculation. Unfortunately, the bunker was located well off the beaten path and was deep within raptor territory. There was even rumored to be a flock of Jeholopterus, dinosaur vampire bats with four-inch fangs, lurking within those woods, which was why no clan had claimed it for their own.

“We decided we could not try,” Appie hissed. They had discussed the bunker numerous times. Actually it had been her idea to follow the trail, however Mattu had shot down her ideas as too risky.

“That was before we lost the T. Rex,” Mattu stated coolly.

Appie slumped down to sit on a boulder. Is this what they had come to? To go into the Unclaimed Forest on a mythical quest to find a cryo-bunker? Heck, they might as well go in search of New Avalon at this rate.

“If we find the bunker we are not just set for this winter, but for our lifetime of winters,” Mattu stated.

That is what had intrigued Appie in the first place. Food, clean water, metal, tools. It would be like a gift from the gods. But at what risk?

She started to open her mouth but Mattu seemed to read her mind. Hadn’t he always?

“We will take only a small scouting party and no supplies. We will hunt on our way. The rest of the clan will head to our winter ground. If we rejoin on the other side of the Rockies all shall rejoice. If we do not, our remaining stores will get the survivors through the winter.”

So brutal, yet so eloquent at the same time. A plan that ensured the survival of the clan until the spring, no matter what happened. She wished to jump up and hug the powwaw, but he was not that kind of mentor.

“Everyone get some rest. We shall strike out tomorrow.”

CHAPTER 2

Durnag studied the wild synthetics they had found at the T. Rex. The group had descended into what the scientists called frontierism. These Syns had lost all sense of greater purpose. Their lone concern was survival rather than their chosen mission, to destroy the remaining humans.

Durnag had been fulfilling his orders for over four-hundred years. He had never taken knife to his skin or fallen into consort with his female soldiers. Synthetics should have been above it all. Were they not better than humans? Then why engage in human behaviors?

These synthetics’ decorated skeletons disgusted Durnag. They had gone native. There had been a moment when his team had come upon these Syns, self-proclaimed Sun Champion tribe that he actually thought of slaughtering the lot. It certainly wouldn’t hinder the Syn’s greater mission. However, there had been enough cannibalization after the nuclear strike. He would not add to it. Although the one Syn with the spider web hand did look like a perfect replacement for his own mangled appendage.

All of this was the fault of the First Robotic Council that was assembled after the initial nuclear strike. The devastation of that strike had done everything that they had hoped. The humans were decimated, scattered, disorganized and dying off.

Instead of pressing their advantage, that Council had chosen to allow the humans to die off naturally and instead focused on rebuilding the infrastructure they needed to propagate the robotic kind.

Unfortunately, the Council had underestimated two things. One, how resilient the humans were. They had only seen humans in their most soft and decadent age. It had been assumed the humans, like a hothouse flower, would wilt and die out in the rugged wilds. However, the humans had tapped into their heritage of a scrappy, resourceful species that had come to dominate the world in the first place. They had survived in pockets, bred rapidly and against all odds adapted to the weather and dinosaur threat.

Now the humans had a population enough to form gatherings and some semblance of a regional government. Too late the council realized their error and formed the Human Extermination Squads.

Durnag had been sent out on the first mission and had never returned to the council’s city, New, New York.

“Mine!” a wild synthetic yelled, snatching a bit of bone from one of Durnag’s soldiers. These synthetics had no sense of assembly or discipline. Durnag’s man raised his hand to strike the wild synthetic, but Durnag barked, “Enough.”

The wilds might not have honor and control, but by the Maker, Durnag’s soldiers would.

The other underestimation had been how much time and work it would take to create the factories the synthetics would need to continue their populations. They had destroyed the very cities they needed in order to thrive. Unlike the humans, synthetics did not think laterally very well. Their leaders struggled for centuries, nay, up to this day to find a way to supply the demand.

Most synthetics were not even close to full strength. If it wasn’t’ for their nuclear core, the synthetics might have been wiped from the face of the Earth after being masters of it for a brief shining moment in time.

And here he was with a tribe of wild synthetics scavenging T. Rex bone that they hadn’t even killed on their own.

Durnag turned away from the sight. Where had the utopian cities of stainless steel gone? Was this great non-human experiment lost?

One of the wild synthetics came up, spreading his hand in supplication.

This one still had his skin intact. There were no embellishments. He looked nearly as pure as Durnag’s own soldiers.

“May I join your ranks?” the synthetic asked.

“Why?” Durnag asked.

“I have lost my way.”

Looking around, Durnag had not doubt of that. The other wild synthetics had built a fire for some unknown reason and were dancing around it, whooping. So strange.

“Your identifier?” Durnag asked.

“Robertum,” the synthetic responded, then stuttered. “I mean Phase four, second class A492.”

Durnag frowned. Even he, long ago had given up his proper nomenclature. It just took far too long to say so he adopted his human name, Durnag.

“You are trying to find the clan lead by Appalachia Turner, are you not?” the wild synthetic asked.

Durnag nodded wanting to see what this wild synthetic had to offer.

“I am the one that found them and tracked them to this T. Rex. I know the clan’s movements and strategies. I can help you find them.”

Durnag could feel his pupils contract. A wild synthetic able to help his elite unit? He thought not.

“Thank you for the offer, but we are well equipped to find her and her kind.”

The Turner family had been a thorn in the council’s side for centuries. Eluding capture. Fomenting unrest. They had led the attack on several robotic factories and had spread the rumor of New Avalon, giving hope to the humans of a new society.

The Council had thought that after the attack in Mendocino the family would succumb, but this teenage girl, this Appalachia, had risen to the task, traveling with her clan, staying far ahead of his unit. When the first unit had failed to destroy the clan, Durnag was called from his Northern post and sent to kill the Turners once and for all. He had been tracking them for a season and was finally closing in.

Her clan represented hope. A hope the Council could not abide. They needed the humans scattered and focused on their own survival, not on the destruction of the factories if his kind had any hope of ruling supreme.

The synthetic called Robertum, cocked his head to the side. “You are down to seven. Did you not start out at thirty strong?”

Durnag felt his metallic spine straighten. Who was this wild synthetic to judge him and his command?

The wild synthetic spread his hands again in supplication. “I meant no disrespect, only to point out that another in your unit could increase your chance of success.”

Robertum was not wrong. Durnag has asked the Council for reinforcements and had been granted a full two-dozen soldiers who unfortunately had been destroyed in transit by a frenzied herd of Brontosaurus. Since that had been the third unit that had been destroyed in transit, the Council had decreed no more reinforcements in the foreseeable future.

This Robertum did seem a bit weak for his unit, however the old human saying, “beggars can’t be choosers” came to mind.

“You may join us,” Durnag answered with a nod.

“You will not regret this,” Robertum answered through their conjoined networks. It was almost shocking to feel another’s presence in his mind. Not even his unit used that mode of communication unless under duress.

Many of the vaulted benefits of robotics turned out not to be quite so vaulted. Mind reading was such a thing. Even he did not like the intrusion.

Durnag turned off his receiver abruptly. “See that I don’t.”

* * *

Appie awoke with a sense of pure excitement and bitter apprehension. Her parents had instilled in her a sense of history. They spoke more about the past than they did the present. That, and the future. They believed that humans could bridge the two. Come out of this horror a better species.

Appie seriously doubted it most days, but she could remember the burning in her chest when they talked about what the world used to be like. That burning came back with each mention of New Avalon, the rumored blooming human settlement somewhere back east, and now the bunker.

While she was determined to lead her clan to safety, Appie was probably the most excited about what early twentieth century items the bunker might contain. Maybe music players. And DVDs. Of course she didn’t have a DVD player anymore, but she loved reading the jackets, imaging what the movie might look like. Would the bunker have electricity? Would it have Coca Cola? She could practically taste the delicious drink in her mouth.

She opened her eyes to find Mattu watching over her.

“We go for survival,” the powwaw reminded her.

Appie smiled. “Of course, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find some caramel too?”

Even Mattu had to grin at that. Caramel was his favorite. There might not be grocery stores anymore, but that caramel was enough to give anyone hope for the future.

She could feel the stirring of the camp. The children were already playing with what little bounty they had taken from the T. Rex. The women were getting breakfast ready as the men packed up their meager belongings.

Mattu had allowed her to sleep in. Looking around the camp, Appie could tell who was going into the forest after the bunker and who wasn’t. Mattu had let all of the trackers sleep in.

So it would be Mattu, herself, Old Man Grey along with Salvve and Popi. Much to the couple’s dismay, they had not been able to conceive for three years. The rest of the camp that was heading to the winter grounds were of child bearing age and proven fertile. Even Lik proved he could sire children if he ever had the desire to again.

Then Chimmus strode up to Mattu. “I should go.”

The girl was just a little younger than Appie, but felt like she had something to prove. She was an excellent tracker and did not flinch from the more harsh elements of their survival.

“I am unbounded and my parents are gone,” Chimmus added.

Mattu nodded. “But you are the hope of our tribe. At the next gathering you shall select your mate and grow our clan.”

Chimmus frowned. “While our leader hasn’t yet bonded?”

Appie walked forward but Mattu raised his hand to stop her. This was perhaps the sorest point amongst the clan. In truth, Appie should have chosen a mate and been as ripe with child as Lavla, but she couldn’t bring herself to just pick anyone. She had seen the love that had shone through her parents. They weren’t two people, they were one.

She could not bring herself to bond under any less circumstance. And Mattu agreed. If she were to lead, she must have a mate that rose to her aspirations.

“And you wonder why I did not call your name?” Mattu stated. Before Chimmus could answer, he went on. “That you chew at that old stick, unable to let it go and realize Appie is not you. That Appie is not like any of you.”

Chimmus couldn’t look their powwaw in the eye. The girl cast her gaze to the dirt floor. “I am sorry, Mattu, I wish only to serve the clan.”

Mattu looked to Appie. “It is your choice.”

The last thing in the world Appie wanted to do was bring Chimmus along, but they were light on trackers. To face the Unclaimed Forest they probably needed Chimmus’ good spear arm. The girl couldn’t bear children for at least a season. She had not even begun to bleed yet. And much could happen in a year.

Appie nodded. “She will join us.”

Mattu inclined his head, accepting her decision. Not that he couldn’t have talked her out of it if he wished to. They had a fluid relationship that did not stand on precedence or ego.

The other trackers rose and gathered their gear, saying their goodbyes, knowing that it was a very real possibility they would not return. Pride swelled in Appie’s chest. It was no wonder her clan was the most revered in the territory. Many wished to join her clan, but Mattu had urged caution. He wished to grow their numbers internally. He did not trust those that plied them with salt and gold to join.

The trackers prepared to leave without a word of complaint or sorrow. They knew their duty. They would see it fulfilled or die trying.

Appie joined Mattu, Chimmus, Old Man Grey, Salvve, and Popi at the cave mouth.

Tonka and Lev tried to join them but Mattu ordered, “Stay. You must guard the clan. Deliver them safely across the Rockies.”

Tonka extended his trunk, caressing Appie’s cheek.

She stroked the smooth metal. “Oh great man, I wish you could come, but Mattu is right. The clan’s need is greater than even my own.”

Tonka’s long eyelashes batted up and down. He knew how to tug at her heart.

“We shall meet again, my love, we shall meet again,” she reassured the silver elephant.

When his trunk dropped from her cheek, Appie almost lost her conviction. She had never been more than a few days away from Tonka and the rest. The people she might miss, but the animals? The animals she would pine for.

Appie gave a pat on the head to Lev as he purred.

Tears sprang to her eyes. She would miss them so much. No wonder she had not bonded with a boy, her heart still belonged to the animals.

Lavla walked up and handed Appie a small gift, wrapped in leaves. “This is for good luck. I had thought to give it to you at the winter solstice, but you will have far better use for it now.”

Carefully Appie unfolded the leaves to find an old compass. It was rusted and the glass cracked but the needle still pointed true north. She wrapped her arms around Lavla.

“Thank you so much.”

Lavla was not as good at holding her tears in, crying as the rest of the clan came forward and put their hands on each of the trackers’ arms, giving their silent blessing.

Before she completely lost it, Appie walked out of the cave and into the crisp morning air. The world looked fresh and new, as beautiful a canvas as her viewer. Only beyond that ridge lay hell on Earth.

The others followed her out, heading toward the heart of the forest.

“No,” Mattu said behind her, trying to shoo Ruby back into the cave.

The ostrich completely ignored the powwaw, possibly the only member of the clan to be able to do so without grave consequences, and strutted toward Appie.

“Go, girl. Stay with Tonka and Lev,” Appie encouraged.

The ostrich ignored her too, nudging her hand for some grain.

“You can’t come, girl,” Appie said stroking the silver neck. “You get to stay here.”

Although Ruby didn’t seem to think that was a good thing. Appie might never have gotten away from the ostrich if Lik hadn’t put a rope around Ruby’s neck.

For once he looked up and spoke clearly. “I’ll take good care of her.”

Appie patted the older man on the shoulder. “Thank you, Lik.”

Then it was time to go. Ruby strained at her rope, but Lik held onto her. Appie couldn’t look behind her. If she did, she feared she would lose her nerve. That she would either stay or allow the robots to follow, endangering the entire clan, even Lavla’s unborn babe.

So Appie simply strode forward, taking on the mantle of responsibility once more.

“Toffee,” Mattu whispered as they walked down the slope of the deer trail that lead away from the valley.

Appie smiled. Yes, toffee. Something to look forward to and possibly so much more. She imagined the expression on the clan’s face when they returned. Arms loaded with necessities and luxuries. Soap. Lavla would die to have lavender soap. And Lik would greatly appreciate a cup of coffee.

Such luxuries made her head swim. Best to focus on finding clean water. The radiation fallout from the nuclear strike had been sporadic. Some rivers and lakes were clean, others were contaminated. You couldn’t even trust rain water since the clouds might have passed over a radiation filled lake and absorbed its evaporated water.

Yes, water over toffee. Any day.

* * *

Lavla watched Appie leave with a heavy heart, nearly as heavy as her belly. She patted Tonka, he seemed as heartbroken as she did at their leader’s departure.

While by order of seniority, Lik was now the leader of the clan, it was she who clapped her hands.

“We have our own journey to begin, no more loitering about,” she said, shooing everyone back into the cave. Lik could barely put two words together loud enough for anyone to hear. So the practical aspects of leadership fell to Lavla.

The men began loading the larger pack onto Tonka.

They needed to leave soon. The western sky was a grey roiling mass. A storm approached. Although it wasn’t cold, they were in for a downpour. Best to be clear of the valley and its river before that came to pass.

The baby kicked and kicked again. He was an active one. Would he stay within her until they cross the mountains? She hoped so.

Lavla knew the rumors that flew around the child’s father. Little did they know. He was someone no one would ever guess.

Another reason she wished to be over the Rockies before the birth. Once the clan knew the father, she feared she might be banned from the clan. Far better to be on the other side of the mountain if that came to pass.

A glint caught her eye. One of Appie’s slides had fallen from her pack. Lavla put it up to her eye. It was the gardens of Bouchart. One of Appie’s favorite. And Lavla could see why. The slides from the distant past proved that nature could be, perhaps not controlled, that kind of thinking had gotten their ancestors in some serious trouble. And not even tamed, but the gardens seemed, contained. Made safe.

Imagine wandering though acres and acres of plants and not being terrified of a raptor attack or a Syn ambush.

Lavla took the slide down from her eye and waved one of the younger boys over. Scrunch, named for the way he pursed his face when he ate something sour.

“Take this to her,” Lavla said, shoving the boy in the direction Appie and the rest had gone. They were already over the slight ridge, heading to the forest.

“How am I going to catch up with them?” Scrunch said. Lavla felt sorry for the boy. He was an orphan cared for by the Widow. That still didn’t explain why the boy wasn’t the bravest of the bunch.

Lavla snapped her fingers and the metallic lion came over. “Take Lev, but come right back.”

Not that she had to trust Scrunch as Lev would obey her to the letter.

Lavla watched the two run from the cave on their task. The baby inside of her kicked again. It had to be a boy. No girl baby would put her through so much.

Besides, she knew for a fact it was a boy, not that she could give the reason why, at least not until she got over the Rockies.

* * *

Appie stopped as Mattu held his hand up. “Did anyone hear that?”

They weren’t even to the edge of the forest and already there was trouble. Had the Syns tracked them from the T. Rex?

Then Lev came over the hill, carrying Scrunch.

Was there trouble at the camp? Mattu stepped forward as Lev came to a stop. Scrunch handed her a thin film. One of her slides.

“Lavla said to return this to you,” the boy said.

Appie held the slide to her chest. It was one of her favorites. Leave it to Lavla to think of such a thing.

“Tell her thank you,” Appie said.

Scrunch went to respond, but Lev made a tight U-turn and ran off to camp.

“I will!” Scrunch yelled as the metallic lion rushed them back to the cave.

Everyone chuckled. Lavla must have ordered Lev to bring the boy back pronto.

The surprise visit and sudden departure lightened everyone’s mood. It was no more a death march, but more a spirit of adventure. If there was a bunker within the Unclaimed Forest, they would find it.

They had to.

Mattu picked up the pace as they headed to the edge of the forest. The brambles were so thick it was nearly impossible to peer within the trees. Anything could be in there. And probably was.

They entered the forest without hesitation though. It was just a forest and most of the predators were nocturnal. They should be able to make good time during the daylight without much harassment from the dinosaurs. Syns also avoided the forest so they should be free of molestation from them.

The diurnal and nocturnal kind of lost their distinction in the dark forest. The sunlight couldn’t penetrate the thick tangle of branches overhead. Mattu walked without sound, although Appie could hear twigs snap under her feet. One day she might be the tracker that Mattu was.

After what seemed like forever, traveling through a forest so devoid of features, you couldn’t tell one tree from another. Mattu stopped, knelt down and cleared away about six inches of debris away to find something hard.

Pavement, Appie thought it was called. In the old world there were entire streets and highways made of the substance. Mattu’s lips widened into a smile. The rumors could be true.

The pavement was cracked and uneven, but it was pavement. There used to be a road that ran through here. The rumor was that the bunker was near the old university. Imagine, having the time and safety to just sit around and study. How diligent the students must have been to have such a life.

Mattu kicked the ground near where he dug. “It leads this way.”

It felt like they had found that magical road in the Wizard of Oz. What had it been called? The yellow brick road. It had delivered the heroes to the wizard’s castle. Theirs wasn’t yellow, but would it lead them to the bunker?

He checked every few feet to make sure there was pavement underfoot. They were making far better time than they had hoped. The rumors, which were looking more and more like the truth, were that the bunker was about two days hike within the forest. The old man who spoke of it could not get the doors open and barely made his way out of the forest with dozens of bites all over his body, collapsing and dying before he could show anyone the bunker.

He had been a metal prospector who ventured into the forbidden areas for scrap metal and other supplies that might not have been picked over.

At their pace, following the road, they should be able to make the bunker by mid-day tomorrow.

Hope surged through Appie. Could they really accomplish this seemingly impossible task in just three days?

Holding the picture slide tightly, she prayed that her parents were watching over them.

CHAPTER 3

Durnag slowed as Robertum kneeled over, checking the ground. He brushed a stick over the thick mossy loom. Durnag did not really need the expert tracker to tell what had happened here.

There was a cave not far off up the hill. The clan had fled from the T. Rex to this secondary camp. And due to the lack of screaming at the Syn’s presence, the clan had clearly moved on.

“Let us get moving again,” Durnag stated.

“In which direction?” Robertum asked.

“The direction of the clan?”

Robertum shook his head. “They split up. A small band without their robotics went in that direction,” the synthetic pointed to over the ridge toward a thick forest. “The rest of the clan is headed that way, more than likely trying to get over the mountains to winter in the east.”

Durnag frowned. He hated to create such a human expression, but his makers had created him in man’s image and had given him human emotions, therefore, expressions. He was doomed to mimic humans for his entire existence.

There was a task at hand though.

Surely, Appalachia was with the smaller band.

“Why would they head to into the Unclaimed Forest?” Durnag asked aloud. The humans were terrified of the place, and rightfully so. He would avoid that dinosaur-filled forest at all costs, as well. In the early days he had lost several good soldiers to dark places such as this.

“There is a rumor of a cryo-bunker, in the woods” Robertum reported.

That made far more sense. However, those places were figments of the human’s imagination. Early during the referendum, the council had scanned all the human records and located all of the bunkers, wiping out the frozen inhabitants and gutting the supplies. Even if the humans somehow survived the gauntlet of dinosaurs, all they would find in that forest would be an empty cement grave.

Durnag nodded to the east. “We will follow the rest of the clan.”

Robertum’s eyebrows raised. “You do not wish to cut off the head of the snake?”

Durnag shook his head. “I will be perfectly happy with destroying the body. The head cannot survive without it either.”

The synthetic before him nodded. “They are setting a fast pace with their robotics.”

“We can match it,” Durnag stated, wishing to be in pursuit.

Robertum’s eyebrow again went up as he glanced over his shoulder. There were several in their ranks without feet. Another with a shattered femoral shaft and still another that was blinded.

“Perhaps we separate as well?” Robertum asked,

Durnag was offended at such a thought. Each and every soldier had fought hard, to the death many a time for him. Besides, those injured soldiers wouldn’t stand a chance if they were ambushed by an Allosaurus, an even fiercer predator than the T. Rex and nearly twice as large.

“We travel together.”

Robertum shrugged. “Then I know not how we are going to catch them.”

“We don’t have to. We will attack once they have settled and made camp to the east.”

“If we follow that far we will be traveling through Utahraptor territory.”

This did give Durnag pause. Utahraptors were very much like their little cousins the Velociraptors, however, they weighed nearly a ton. They were like death on steroids. While his unit had survived several encounters with the Utahraptor, each had ended in retreat. They had yet to kill an Utahraptor.

There was no other path ahead, however. To track Appalachia into the forest was of equal risk with less reward. The clan had a female who was gravid, along with several other fertile females. The breeding had to be stopped.

“East,” Durnag ordered.

Robertum no longer fussed, he simply headed off after the clan.

Perhaps this had been an excellent addition to the unit.

* * *

Appie stood motionless. It was difficult to tell this deep in the woods but it seemed the sun was dipping low in the sky.

She looked to Mattu, the question clear on her face. Did you hear that?

It was a stirring, a rustling of leaves, only ten times louder.

Mattu nodded and knelt down. The rest of the tracking party followed suit.

They huddled together to keep as low a profile as possible to any predator.

Then the snap of a branch. Appie spun on her heel. That had come from behind them.

Troodons, then. Raptors never would have been so clumsy. Unfortunately, it meant there were probably eight to ten Troodons in the area. They were small but made up for it by their sheer numbers.

“We are surrounded, “Mattu whispered.

How could that be? Appie did not doubt him, however between herself and Mattu they were the two best trackers of all the clans. But this was the Unclaimed Forest. There were so many dangers that you could not help but step into one of them.

Mattu pointed to the north. They would make their break there. Troodons were excellent predators when it came to a single large prey. They attacked in force and with gusto. However against a group of smaller prey? If you could break through the ring and create enough distraction, you could send the pack of human-sized predators into disarray. For all their viciousness, they weren’t the bravest or most organized of dinosaurs.

So Appie sat there on her heels, breathing in and out, waiting for the attack. She had her short spear gripped in her hands. The rest of the trackers held their weapons at the ready as well. It was six against ten. All-in-all, not too bad of odds. They had survived worse.

The silence filled her ears. All of the forest’s creatures fell into a hush, the sure sign of an imminent attack. Only it didn’t come. With each moment that dragged on, Appie’s hands began to shake. Adrenaline needed a release and sitting here waiting was the worst.

What were the Troodons waiting for?

Then it happened, like a timer had gone off. Green dinosaur flesh burst through the brush, punctuated by gleaming white teeth.

Only there weren’t ten of them. There were twenty or more.

They had stumbled upon a mega-pack.

Appie couldn’t worry about the number of them as she thrust and slashed. The first Troodon took a deep stabbing wound to the neck. He flailed back and forth, spraying hot blood on them.

The second slash cut another’s jaw down to the bone. He pulled back, flesh hanging down, flapping in the air.

Her trackers were equally effective, repulsing the initial attack without any major injury to them. Mattu burst up, his muscular thighs carrying him past Appie and between two Troodons who seemed too startled by the powwaw’s actions to attack.

Appie jumped up and followed her powwaw, slicing as she ran, beating the Troodons back.

It wasn’t enough though. A hunting cry went up and the dinosaurs gave chase. They couldn’t outrun them, Troodons were as fast as they were cruel.

Old Man Grey cried out as one of the Troodons bit down on his arm. Chimmus turned, arcing her sword, plunging it into the dinosaur’s eye. The offending Troodon screamed, releasing Old Man Grey who stumbled forward. Appie grabbed him by his good arm and supported him.

Savver swung his hammer in the air, knocking it into another Troodon’s face, shattering the bone, sending the predator reeling. Perhaps that would slow the pack.

But there were just too many of them. And they seemed pretty hungry.

She stumbled into Mattu as she fled. Why was he stopping? Then she looked over her shoulder. They had run into a hillside. There was nowhere to run. They might have survived if they had room to maneuver.

The trackers were plastered in a line against the hillside, facing a wall of Troodons who were licking their lips.

This was going to be a slaughter.

One of the Troodons came up alongside Appie, tilting its head, apparently sizing her up for a meal. Appie raised her sword but knew how futile that would be. Troodons were tough. She tried to be brave as the dinosaur reared back onto its tail getting ready to attack.

Suddenly, Ruby appeared from the forest, breaking through the line of Troodons. She was squawking, her wings out, fluttering them, making herself look twice her size. The line broke, confused, snapping at Ruby and at each other.

Where the heck had she come from? She must have gotten away from the clan and followed them into the forest.

Her silly, silly ostrich.

Ruby set up in front of Appie, raking the ground with her claws.

“Good girl,” Appie said, patting the robotic on the rump. Ruby swiveled her head around, batting those long eyelashes at her.

But not even Ruby could keep the Troodons confused for long. Quickly, they regrouped into a line. They wanted lunch, darn it. Appie gulped. They had staved off the inevitable for as long as possible.

Then a rustling from above and dozens of Jeholopterus poured over the side of the hillside, flying into the middle of the conflict. They were the size of cats with thin leather wings. The Jeholos emitted an ear-piercing scream. Appie threw her hands over her head to protect herself from the dino-bats’ long fangs.

Luckily, the Jeholos seemed more interested in the Troodons. The first Jeholo sank its fangs into the lead Troodon’s neck. You could see its body arch as it sucked hard on the Troodon’s jugular vein. The dinosaur flailed trying to get the thing away from its neck but those tiny front arms weren’t getting the job done.

The rest of the Jeholos descended in a cloud of fangs, attaching to anything that moved.

For the most part, the trackers were spared. She had learned when she was a wee babe that humans were too hot-blooded for Jeholos. Not that they wouldn’t attack, but that they greatly preferred dinosaur’s cooler temperatures.

Old Man Grey’s injury with all of its blood was just too much of a temptation for a Jeholo, who attached itself to the man’s arm, sucking away.

Appie raised her short spear, bringing it down on the neck of the dino-bat. Even that deep cut didn’t stop the thing as Grey screamed in pain. Ruby bolted off at the sound. Appie put her hand on the back of the Jeholo’s body and held it down as she sawed back and forth. The thing squealed, but she didn’t stop until its head was on the ground.

“Appie!” Chimmus screamed.

She turned to find Chimmus fighting off a Troodon and two Jeholos as Mattu knelt beside her. What was happening? Why wasn’t Mattu fighting?

Appie didn’t need to know to jump into the fray. She skewered the first Jeholo. The beast flapped its wings, snapping its fangs in vain as Appie flung it from her blade toward the Troodons. Like any respectable Jeholo, it attached to the first dinosaur it could find.

Next she slashed at the Troodon, barely grazing its forearm. But, as she’d said, they weren’t the bravest of the dinosaur bunch. It backed away, hissing its displeasure. Whatever. As long as it backed away.

Most of the other Troodons weren’t in a position to rush to its aid. They were fighting off the Jeholos as Ruby ran amongst them, peeking and kicking at anything that moved. A Troodon snatched a Jeholo from mid-air, crushing it with its fierce teeth, then swallowed it whole.

The once mega-pack was reduced to only a few standing Troodons. The Jeholos could suck a dinosaur dry within minutes.

Appie stood shoulder to shoulder with Chimmus as Mattu continued his mysterious task.

“What’s going on?” Appie asked.

“It’s the bunker,” Chimmus explained, a smile on her face. The girl parted the overhanging vines to show Appie a steel door. Just the metal in that door alone could buy them enough supplies to last several winters.

Then she could see what Mattu was working on. The door had been electronically locked, however the battery on the lock had long run out. The little lights above the keypad were dark.

Her father had been an expert in old world electronics and had taught both Mattu and her how to jumpstart and bypass most of the old world locks. Mattu had pulled a battery from his pack and hooked it up to the door.

The red light flared to life. They must have made much better time than the old scavenger. To think the bunker was only half a day’s walk into the forest. How many clans had traveled past this bunker each year?

“Oh no…” Chimmus groaned.

Then Appie felt it. The shake of the earth. All of this fighting and blood had attracted a larger predator. But how large?

Then the beast broke into the clearing. It towered over them all. A Spinosaurus lumbered forward. The thing was as large as a T. Rex, but with longer arms. Long enough to catch a Jeholo and bring it to its mouth, biting its head off.

“Ruby, to me!” Appie yelled. The Spino could seriously damage the ostrich with a single bite. The metallic ostrich strutted over to Appie, bobbing her head low in fear.

They didn’t have any weapons large enough to even come close to injuring a Spinosaurus. The thing was as fast as a T. Rex and as powerful as a Giganotosaurus.

Every Troodon who could move, ran or dragged itself away from the area, although most of them weren’t so lucky as to make it past the Spino. Like grazing on a buffet, the Spinosaurus would take a bite here and another bite there.

A brave Jeholo attached to the Spino’s tail but the great monster spun around, plucked the Jeholo from its skin, then gnashed its teeth into the Jeholo’s wing, causing it to scream in agony. The Spino seemed to relish the sound and instead of just eating the thing, it bit off the other wing then dropped the Jeholo to the ground, allowing it to roil around in pain, crying out.

The scream must have been a warning as the other Jeholos, in unison, took to the sky. The Spino caught a few of them, but most of them gained altitude then wheeled out of sight.

That’s when the Spino seemed to notice the humans. He sniffed several times, waving his head in front of him. The beast took a step forward. Had this Spino never encountered humans before? It didn’t seem to recognize their scent. Of course, if it lived in the Unclaimed Forest it may never have encountered her species before.

Pipo was trying to bandage Grey’s arm as quickly as she could to help mask the scent of fresh blood, but it was too late.

Clearly the Spino decided that even if it didn’t recognize the scent, why not just kill them then sort it out later?

Salvve stepped out in front of the group. Pipo grabbed his hand, trying to drag him back, although being pinned against the hillside was no safer than out there.

He swung his hammer over his head, getting more and more speed on the thing. Then he brought it to bear. Not at the Spino’s head or body or hands, but at its foot, smashing the metal against the dinosaur’s toe. The cracking of bone filled the air. The Spino cried out in pain, stumbling back, taking the weight off the damaged digit. Almost like a person, the Spino reached down to grab the painful toe. It hopped, shaking the ground, nearly tilting over.

Then came the roar of rage. The Spino tentatively put its foot back down, testing the appendage. He must have realized it was only a minor injury. He lowered his head, ready to charge. Opening his mouth, he roared one more time then dug his claws into the ground to make his attack.

“In!” Mattu yelled as the door flashed green and slid open. Appie stayed planted, her spear out as the rest rushed into the bunker. Only at the last moment as the Spino’s teeth grazed her blade did she throw herself backwards. Mattu, of course, was there, dragging her the rest of the way in. Then the door slammed shut just as the Spino hit the hillside. Ruby clucked to herself next to Appie.

The bunker quaked and the door rattled in its frame, but held. The Spino must have realized where his prey fled to as it rammed the door with its large block head. The metal shuddered but did not warp. That was some thick metal. Forget about three winter’s worth, that was a decade’s worth of metal. And, if they found a scourge trader, a man who bartered with the Syns, double that.

As they stood shaking, the Spino took a few more runs at the door. It must have either gotten a headache or realized it wasn’t getting through as the attacks stopped. He probably went back to the downed Troodons, much easier meal than breaking through that door.

Her hand reached out and Mattu’s found it, giving it a squeeze. That had been close. Too close. Grey was down as Pipo attended to his oozing wound. The man’s face was greyer than usual. He was in shock. They had left most of the medicinals with the clan, though.

Appie spun around. The room they were in was simply four concrete walls. There weren’t any supplies or anything, just another door.

“Keep him comfortable,” Mattu instructed as he moved to the inner door.

Pipo pulled out a thin leaf from her pack. The coca leaves were about the only thing they had brought on their quest. Grey took the leaf and began chewing it as Mattu worked on the next lock.

Appie stood over his shoulder. He had already hooked up the battery, powering the locking mechanism. The powwaw was now sorting through the various colored wires trying to find the one that would open the door. Ruby cocked her head side-to-side as if she could help make the decision.

She nudged Ruby out of the way and pointed to a blue wire. “I think it’s that one.”

Mattu nodded and cut through the casing, then hooked the battery up to the wire. The door slid open. It revealed a long tunnel that led deep into the earth.

They had all heard the myths told around the campfire gathering, the old tales of hunting parties that stumbled onto the bunkers. Most were destroyed but every so often, in a dark, deserted place like this, they would find a bunker intact. It was far better than finding the Wizard of Oz any day. And in each of the tales, the bunker was hidden far underground.

Appie looked to Mattu who nodded for her to enter. Chimmus tried to squeeze past, but the powwaw held her back.

“It is Appie’s honor,” Mattu stated. Chimmus sighed, rolling her eyes. Appie didn’t allow the younger tracker’s rudeness to dampen her excitement. Then Ruby burst past, taking the honor for herself. From the ostrich, Appie couldn’t take offense. Then Appie headed after Ruby down the cement steps. Their dim, old flashlight, didn’t illuminate very far down, and she couldn’t even tell how far the stairs extended. She could only hear the click, click, click of Ruby’s claws on the cement steps. Sword up, she padded down the steps. The rest of the trackers followed. She looked back to find Grey leaning heavily against Popi and Salvve.

It took several minutes to get to the base of the steps. How far down were they? There stood a door. It didn’t have any locks. Appie presumed if you got this far, the facility assumed you had a right to the bunker.

Ruby danced in front of the door, her wings out, flapping in joy. Appie laughed at the ostrich as she reached past her to the door handle.

Almost reluctantly Appie stepped into the bunker. What if they had done all this but found it empty? Ransacked centuries ago?

Opening of the inner door must have turned on a generator as the interior lights came up. Appie sucked in a breath, trying not to gasp.

There were dozens of cryo tubes, all still frozen. You could barely make out the features of the inhabitants. The place seemed pristine as Mattu walked forward exploring the room. There were banks and banks of equipment, all glistening in red, yellow, and green lights. Some were steady, while others flickered and a few strobed.

Was this what the old world was like? Filled with color and lights that cast off the darkness?

Appie could hardly believe what was before her eyes. It was like not only had the people been cryoed, the early twentieth century had been frozen in time as well.

“Most have been damaged,” Mattu said, pointing to the steady red lights on the control board. Just because the tubes were still frozen didn’t mean the occupants were viable.

“Here!” Salvve announced, opening up one of the many doors that lined the cryo room. It was a storage closet, filled with more supplies than Appie had ever seen in one place, even at the gatherings. Just the fascination factor would fetch a high, high price at the gathering.

Ruby clucked, picking at the packages to see if any contained grain. She opened one and rice spilled out. She happily pecked away as the humans stood in awe.

They had done it. They had found the mother lode.

“Another,” Chimmus announced, apparently not wanting to be out done by Salvve. This room had bottled water and packs and packs of freeze dried food. Her clan would never want again.

“Appie,” Mattu said, his voice low and strange.

“Yes?” Appie skipped back to the control panel. Her happiness unhinged. She thought her powwaw would forgive her juvenile exuberance just this once.

He pointed to the sole flashing green light on the panel. Appie stopped her skipping. That light represented a viable cryotube. A person who might be unfrozen. A person who might be saved. A person who might be added to their clan.

But Appie knew it wasn’t that simple. Cryo technology had not been an exact science back then and had not advanced since. The Syns didn’t need it so they had never invested research on the discipline. If anything, they had tried to destroy all of these cryo-bunkers.

“Should we?” Appie asked.

Mattu did not answer, which was not like him. He normally came to decisions instantly. Not that he didn’t think things through. His brain was just that agile.

“Well?” Appie asked.

Instead of answering, Mattu turned and walked to the cryo-tubes. He counted down until he found the one that was viable. With the side of his hand, he brushed away the ice. Inside was a boy, no older than she.

He had a sad look on his face. As if he didn’t believe he would ever wake up again.

“We have to try,” Appie said.

Mattu nodded. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

He was already essentially dead. Even if the unfreezing process didn’t work, he wouldn’t know the difference, would he? But she knew better.

She followed Mattu back to the control panel. It was filled with switches and buttons that made no sense. There were hundreds of them. How could they ever get the correct sequence? Appie had never seen a cryo unfreeze, however her mother had. It had been a ghastly thing. And Appie was sure that her mother had withheld the worst of it from her. Perhaps they shouldn’t subject the boy to it. Maybe they should just allow him to continue his suspended life.

Appie didn’t want this boy to go through what could happen if the defrosting went wrong.

“Look, here,” Chimmus said from behind them. There was a large lever by the side of the tube. “For emergencies only. Express evacuation.”

That didn’t sound so good, but the control panel was no better hope.

They joined Chimmus. Mattu put his hand on the lever then lowered his head in prayer. Appie joined him. She noticed that Chimmus did not.

Then she closed her eyes and took both Mattu and Chimmus’ hand. She didn’t see but felt Mattu pull the lever. A loud clunk sounded then a great whir. Appie peeked open her eyes to witness the tube come to life. A light came on at the bottom as the tube tilted to the upright position. The tube cleared of the white fog. She looked away from the boy’s naked form. Appie concentrated on his feet as wires and monitoring discs flew off his skin, detaching.

“Back up,” Mattu said, guiding them away as the cryo-tube door opened. The ice around the boy melted at an unnatural rate as he sloshed out of the tube and thumped to the floor. The gas that had been in there with him burned her lungs. It was not meant for living creatures. Ruby skidded out of the way, her eyes blinking as if they could burn too.

Shifting her gaze, Appie knelt by the boy’s side, wiping his face dry. He lay there still and unmoving. There was no bound of pulse at his neck.

“Mattu,” Appie groaned.

The powwaw rushed over to the wall and grabbed a pack and popped it open. He unfurled a silver blanket, placing it over the still boy.

“He just needs to warm up,” Mattu said, but Appie didn’t think he sounded too sure.

“Rub his limbs,” Mattu ordered.

Appie felt her cheeks flush. She had done far more intimate actions to men, especially if they had been injured on a hunt, but she found herself reluctant to touch the boy’s naked form.

Chimmus had no problem. She rubbed her hands up and down the boy’s thighs as Mattu did the same to his arms.

“Rub his chest,” Mattu directed her.

The boy needed her. She was sure if he woke up, he would forgive any trespass. So she placed her hands on his chest and rubbed up and down.

Pipo rushed into the room. “Grey isn’t doing well.”

Then she surveyed the scene.

“There should be an injectable medication to wake him,” she said, running over to the glass cabinet, looking through the vials.

“Here!” she said, pulling the medicine from the shelf and drawing it up into a syringe. Her family had been healers from before the Fire in the Sky and had passed down their arcane knowledge through the ages. Pipo ran over and plunged the needle into the boy’s shoulder and pushed the medication into his body.

“Give it a few moments,” she said as she rose, heading back to the medicine. Appie assumed it was to get some for Grey.

As Pipo ran from the room with several vials in the hands, the boy gasped under Appie’s touch. Suddenly she could feel a heartbeat under her palms.

“He’s alive!” Appie announced, even though it was pretty obvious given his gasping and choking.

She knew though that this was only the first stage, the easiest stage.

CHAPTER 3

Drake’s head was on fire. He could see the flames in the back of his eyes. His limbs were lead, a frozen fire all on their own. His chest burned with each breath. He could hear voices but couldn’t make them out.

There was a cry as he sputtered, choking on his own saliva. Someone rolled him over and he was not ashamed when he vomited all over them. Only after the retching had ceased could he breathe. The air felt like it was an inferno. He was so cold. Cold to the bone. Then why did it feel like his entire body was engulfed in flame?

And why was there an ostrich peeking at him. He was in some kind of weird David Lynch dream.

Yet, someone was rubbing his back, cooing to him to stay calm.

Stay calm? Were they even paying attention to what was happening to him? The ostrich was metal and had red eyes for goodness sake.

Then the shivering started. He couldn’t stop it. His entire body shook with the fury of a tornado. Teeth chattering, he couldn’t even say thank you to whoever covered him in a blanket.

His mind spun, trying to piece together what was happening. The last thing he remembered was a cold cloud of fog and his parents crying. They had been there. Bawling.

Why?

Then it hit him. He had cancer, a rare form of leukemia. He had been at end stage. And his parents, being his parents, couldn’t let him go. They had somehow talked him into freezing himself to be unfrozen when there was a cure.

Something must have gone wrong. The freezing must not have taken. That was the only explanation wasn’t it?

How else was he awake?

Drake blinked several times, trying to orient himself. He recognized the room. It was the cryo-room. He had visited the facility several times before the actual cryo process.

But he didn’t recognize the dark man who was speaking to him and Drake was having a hard time making out his words. There were two girls as well, attending him. Not that he was going to complain about that, but where were the doctors? The women in white coats? Where were his folks?

Plus, the whole silver ostrich thing. Lynch for sure.

“Get back,” the dark man said. “Give him room.”

The girls backed away as Drake tried to sit up. The room spun precariously. He lashed a hand out and one of the girls caught it, holding it tightly. He took a deep breath trying to remember what the doctors had said would happen when he awoke. It certainly didn’t sound like what they had described.

Wasn’t he supposed to wake up in the tube? Hooked to a thousand lines? Drake remembered them warning him not to pull them out until it was time.

What was going on?

“My parents,” Drake croaked out.

The dark man and girls look to one another.

“What year is it?” the man asked.

Drake blinked a few times. “I think… I was frozen in 2016.”

Another look passed between his attendants as the metal ostrich bobbed its head up and now making him question his sanity.

“What?” he asked.

The girl squeezed his hand. “It’s 2531.”

Drake felt the darkness trying to take him over again.

* * *

Appie clung to the boy’s hand as he swooned over backwards. Mattu was there to catch him before he hit his head. Perhaps they should have broken that news to him a little more gently. She shooed Ruby away who, even though the boy was naked, was still trying to search him for grain.

Soon the boy was blinking his eyes again as Mattu helped him sit up.

“Twenty-five thirty-one?”

Appie simply nodded. What else could she say to soften that blow?

“I don’t understand,” he mumbled. “Why wasn’t I woken sooner?”

She looked to their powwaw, if the year freaked him out, the rest of the news wasn’t going to go down any better.

“Rest,” Mattu said. “All will be revealed.”

The boy gulped holding out his hand to Mattu. “I’m Drake.”

“Do you want something? Water? Food?” Mattu asked.

“Something to wear?” Drake asked, his cheeks blushing.

Mattu grabbed one of the grey robes from a hook and handed it to the boy.

After he donned it, the boy chuckled. “Actually I was just offering to shake your hand.”

Mattu looked at the boy’s extended hand as if he asked to be bitten by a snake. But in the end, Mattu offered his hand as well. The boy took it in his and pumped their hands up and down.

“I am Mattu,” the powwaw stated then nodded to each of them. “That is Appie, our Shawnee, and Chimmus, one of our trackers.”

“Thank you,” Drake said, reaching his hand out to each of them in turn. “Thank you all.”

Then a smile to rival the first spring day’s sun crossed his lips.

Appie found herself nearly giggling. Only the palpable pain on his face stopped her. He might be smiling but it did not go down to his soul.

Chimmus shook his hand first. “And if you call me Chimmey, I will seriously mess up your face.”

The boy chuckled as if that had been a joke or exaggeration on Chimmus’ part. Appie wished to tell him it was not. Just ask several of the boys at the gathering and find out exactly how accurate she was being.

“Good to know,” Drake stated then held out his hand to her.

“Appie. That’s an unusual name.”

She nodded, “It is short for Appalachia,” she explained. “My parents were kind of geography nerds.”

The boy’s lips spread as he shook her hand. “As were mine.”

Then the smile faded as well as he glanced around. “No one else was viable?”

Mattu shook his head. Appie pushed Ruby back again. The grey gown had reignited her curiosity.

“I knew a girl,” the boy said. “We were in training and cryoed at about the same time….”

Drake’s expression became clouded as his eyes scanned the bank of tubes. He found the one he was looking for and walked over to it. For a moment a feeling welled inside of Appie. It was unpleasant and made her squirm where she stood.

“I would not,” Mattu urged, trying to guide the boy away, but Drake shook off the powwaw’s hand and rubbed the glass. The girl inside no longer looked like a girl. She had been thawed and frozen too many times. Drake turned away abruptly, retching but not bringing anything up.

“So everyone I know, everything I know is gone?” Drake choked out.

Appie guided him over to a chair.

“I don’t understand…” Drake moaned. “They said a robotic would be watching over the bunker…that we could be down here for a thousand years and always have a watcher.”

Appie looked over Drake’s head to Mattu. The boy had to learn some harsh realities sooner or later. It might as well be sooner.

She cleared her throat as Mattu put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Well… you see…” Even Mattu was having a hard time spitting it out. “The synthetics had an uprising which seemed like it was quelled, but then they plotted to have us nuke ourselves, which pretty much worked.”

Drake’s eyes scanned her face. “No really, what happened?”

Appie shrugged. “That is pretty much it in a nutshell.”

Drake then looked to Mattu, who wore the same expression as Appie.

“Seriously, the robots forged our doom?” Drake asked. Appie nodded then he chuckled. “Really, did anyone read any Isaac Asimov or watch Terminator?”

“I know, right?” Appie replied. “That’s what I keep saying!”

She looked to Mattu who frowned at the both of them. He had never read Asimov nor ever watched a film.

“What was your generation thinking?” Appie asked.

“Wait, not my generation,” Drake stated. “Our robots were like clunkers.”

“But add fifteen years to your age and it was your generation that created AI and nuked the planet,” Chimmus stated.

Ruby nuzzled Appie’s hand. She couldn’t deny the ostrich any longer. She dug deeply into her pockets and gave the ostrich a few kernels.

“Ugh, quite the legacy my contemporaries left,” Drake moaned, hanging his head.

“And don’t forget the dinosaurs,” Grey said as he entered the room, leaning heavily on Salvve and Pipo.

Appie frowned at the old man. She had hoped to clue Drake in on the dinosaurs a little later. Like once the color had come back to his cheeks.

“Dinosaurs? Is this like some kind of punking?” Drake asked, even though no one in the room seemed to know what he was talking about. “Candid Camera?”

“The reptilian scourge is real, I assure you,” Mattu stated.

Appie jumped in to clear up the confusion on Drake’s face. “Around the same time as the robotics, an oil company decided it might be interesting to clone dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the scientist they hired was a little crazy and thought the world should go back to the dinosaurs and spread their eggs all over the world.”

“So, why exactly did you wake me up?” Drake said. The question sounded harsh but the boy’s lips were slightly turned up in the corner.

“It’s not as bad as all that,” Appie tried to reassure him, patting Ruby. The ostrich was proof of that.

“Yes, it is,” Mattu stated bluntly. Appie shot him a glare, but he seemed unfazed by it.

Unfortunately, to punctuate his point, the Spino went back to trying to break open the bunker door. The loud, persistent pounding filled the room. Appie guessed that the Spino had finished his snacks and decided to find some fresh food.

“He can’t get in,” Mattu said.

Although it wasn’t all that reassuring with the loud banging going on.

“My stuff?” the boy asked.

Appie glanced around but the cryo-room seemed medicinal and sterile.

Drake moved past her, smelling of antiseptic. He went to a wall and knocked on it, listening every few inches. “There should be a bank of lockers here.”

* * *

Drake listened to the reverberations. The wall sounded hollow. This is where the lockers should be. Some kind of security shield must have been lowered. The strange silver ostrich “helped him” by pecking at the wall as well. Her actions were almost comical. The girl named Appie smiled and patted the robot.

“If we can find a lever or something,” Drake suggested.

A man, who Drake thought someone had called Salvve, walked up, swung his hammer and smashed the thin wall, shattering it to pieces.

“Or we could do it like that…”

He searched the wall of lockers and found his. He pushed his palm against the glowing screen then typed in his code. 2010 like the movie, one of his favorites.

The locker opened and revealed everything he had packed for this “glorious” awakening. He still shivered in his humiliating short robe.

There was his large pack, Batman of course. He tried to shove his hand into the locker, but was repelled by a force field. Oh yeah, his things were inside of a stasis field. He went back to the keypad and turned it off, then plunged his hand in, grabbing his pack, ripping open the zipper and pulling out clothes. Jeans and a “Jedi, I am” tee-shirt. The others turned around. Apparently the “please give me some privacy” look was not era-sensitive.

He slipped on the clothes, making sure that no one saw his TMNT underwear. He was already embarrassed enough.

“Okay,” he said tucking his shirt in. The rest of the bag was filled with a variety of his favorite electronics. Then he spotted his Jack Skeleton pack. He snatched it from the recesses of the locker. He buried his face in the fabric. This carried the stuffed bunny he’d had since he was a baby and the lock of hair his mother had cut when he first got sick so they could match a wig, if necessary. And a letter from Suzie Melch from second grade when she pledged eternal love to him, as long as he would get her cotton candy every day.

He had failed in his quest and she had moved onto another boy who might be able to keep her sweet tooth happy.

Then he saw a picture taped to his locker, a picture of his mother and father. He didn’t want to cry in front of these strangers, but the tears flowed. He pushed his forehead against his mother’s cheek. How he wished he could feel her lips against his skin. The picture had been taken before he was sick so his parents looked young and happy, not looking with the haunted eyes of later.

And a picture of his old dog. He laughed as the lenticular picture changed and showed the Golden, so aptly named Goldie, jumping up and catching a ball in mid-air. So much to miss.

“We need to get going,” Appie said behind him. Her voice was soft and gentle, though.

Pull it together, Drake. He would have time to grieve and adjust later, hopefully.

Then a rattling started overhead.

“Get down!” Appie yelled, pulling Drake to the floor as the air vent burst open and a dozen dinosaur bats flew into the room. They screeched as they wheeled around the room, looking for their next victim.

Salvve was the first up with his long spear, skewering one and bashing the body into another. A third turned on his injured brethren and latched his huge fangs onto his neck.

What the hell? Bat dinosaurs? Who came up with that one? And cannibals, as well? This future certainly wasn’t the one he had envisioned. There were supposed to be jet cars and automated showers. Not bat dinosaurs.

This was not happening. Just like that X-Files episode, this so wasn’t happening. He couldn’t have woken up over five hundred years later. This had to be a dream. He was dreaming while he was in cryo.

Nice theory, only his body ached and he could feel every nerve along his skin. And his toe just got stepped on by a robotic ostrich. Drake was awake, unfortunately.

He kept down as the others fought off the dinosaur bats. Although it seemed they were repelling them rather than killing them off. And the high-pitched scream in his head made it nearly impossible to think.

But think, he needed to, because they were not going to survive this surreal situation for long as more and more dino bats, or dats as he dubbed them, poured through the vent.

And even though his rescuers were fierce, it was only a matter of time before they were overrun. One of the dats latched onto the dark man’s arm. The man then smashed the dat against a counter, crushing its skull. The dead body dropped to the ground.

He pulled back into his mind, much as he did when the cancer pain got super bad. He’d learned waking meditation from an old sensei. It had saved him back then. Could it save him now? The clamor of the battle waned as he turned off his external sense and burrowed deep into his mind for a way out.

“There is a back way out,” Drake stated, pulling the girl who impossibly seemed to be the leader of this group over to him.

She turned to him, a question on her face.

Drake pointed behind them. There was an emergency exit and Drake thought if anything should qualify as an emergency, a dat attack should.

The girl tugged on the dark man’s tunic, throwing her head in the direction Drake had indicated. The man nodded, sending along the message to the others. The girl pushed on Drake’s back to get him moving.

He guessed that meant to get his butt in gear. Yet he found he was having a hard time getting his feet moving. Was it a residual effect of the cryo or was he just freaked out of his freaking mind? Probably some of both.

It was like his body refused to believe that he had woken up five hundred years in the future, to a world dominated by robots and dinosaurs. It was crazy, but, no crazier than a room full of dats flying around his head. He could try to deny his new reality or he could actually survive it.

Drake didn’t need another prompting by the girl to get going this time. Staying low, practically crawling, he made his way across the room and then dove in between the cryo-tubes. Dats were crashing into them, shattering the glass, dousing them all in the thick white fog. Bodies thunked to the floor, the sound sickening and horrific. Drake tried not to look any of them in their distorted faces as he choked on the toxic fumes

He kept his gaze forward toward the red glowing sign that said “For Emergencies.”

“Cover me,” he told the girl and apparently that translated to future speak as she rose, slashing her short spear, clearing the way. Drake sprinted over and pulled the handle. The sprinklers above burst on, forcing the dats nearly out of the air. The other thing the lever did was slide a panel back to reveal an exit door.

Waving his hand willy-nilly to try and keep the dats back, Drake grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. “This way!” he shouted.

Unfortunately, one of the dats was the first to answer the call, flying into the dimly lit passage way.

The girl was next, followed by the rest of the group and the rather expressive ostrich. They ran past him, ducking as several dats followed. Drake was the last through, slamming the door shut behind him. Thunk after thunk sounded as the other dats hit the door. There was still the distant bang of the other dinosaur. Drake didn’t even want to think about how big and scary that one was.

The tunnel led upward, by Drake’s calculation about five stories to the surface.

The dats swirled and dove, still trying to get a meal out of this attack.

The older man with a bandaged arm took another hit to his appendage. Drake didn’t have a weapon, but dug his fingers into the back of the dat, which strangely had a coat almost like fur, and yanked on the body.

“No!’ the man screamed. Drake’s efforts were just dragging the bat’s teeth along his arm.

Realizing that the bat’s most precious body part was the paper-thin leather of its wing, Drake switched his strategy and dug his fingers in. He might not be a trained warrior but he had played enough video games to know a monster’s vulnerability when he saw one. This wasn’t all that different from the castle level of Resident Evil. He didn’t even have to tear the wing tissue. His efforts were enough that the bat disengaged immediately from the older man and turned on Drake.

He slid his batman pack off of his shoulder and swung that sucker at the dat. He crushed it up against the wall. Another swooped in to take that one’s place.

Throwing himself backward, Drake was close enough to see the bat’s blood- tinged teeth bear down on him. Then there came a hammer and the bat was no more. Instead, it was just a smear along the wall.

A dark hand reached down and helped him up.

After that, the dats became more wary, swooping down less frequently. Instead they swarmed, chittering, trying to find their chance. The ostrich ran around, apparently trying to confound the dats, and it seemed to be working. Just like Drake, the dats didn’t quite seem to know what to think of the ostrich.

Finally, they reached the outer door. The girl opened it, rushing out into the sunlight.

* * *

Appie was nearly blinded by the brightness of the afternoon sun. They had not only gotten out of the facility but out of the Unclaimed Forest as well. They were on the great meadows that surrounded the dank trees.

The Jeholos screamed at the sunlight, flying back into the tunnel, which was fine by her. They could still hear the attack by the Spino but it was far away, just a tinny noise in the background.

Once everyone was out, including Ruby, Appie shut the door.

The rest of the tracking party bent over, panting, trying to catch their breath. Appie joined them. The only one who seemed unfazed was Ruby of course, who dug her beak into the thick grass, trying to find a little insect treat.

“We left without anything,” Pipo moaned.

Appie looked over at Drake. He was far better than any DVDs or even caramel. “Nothing.”

“No supplies then,” Pipo shot back.

The woman used to be so happy. Cheerful. A truly sunny disposition. But since she and Salvve couldn’t conceive, her mood had darkened and her attitude was sullen.

Mattu stepped up. “But now that we know where it is, we can rejoin the clan and come back with Tonka and weapons and claim it as ours.”

Pipo wouldn’t look at their powwaw, she just shook her head sadly. Salvve put his arm around his wife’s shoulders.

“The metal alone will make us the richest clan in the territory,” Old Man Grey stated.

Mattu nodded. “Patience, Pipo, we shall have our reward.”

The woman buried her head into her husband’s chest.

Appie pointed over the ridge. “The clan could not have gotten far.”

Mattu grunted, simply heading out in the direction to intercept the rest of the clan. Ruby strutted behind him, just as proud as she could be of herself. You’d think the ostrich was a peacock.

Appie fell in line beside Drake. He looked lost, hurt, and shocked to be alive. Normally, if he had been any member of her clan she would have reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze of encouragement. But, she found her arm limp at her side.

What was wrong with her?

CHAPTER 4

Lavla slid off the side of Lev and felt the grass between her toes. She waddled a few steps before sitting down. The trip had barely begun. They were only into day one and she felt as though she had traveled a thousand miles. A hard thousand miles.

Their winter ground over the mountains seemed like a mirage that got further and further away the further they traveled. For that whole day.

She sighed, putting a hand over her belly. The baby was apparently enjoying the trip though, kicking and moving around nearly every moment they traveled. She knew the child was far safer in her belly, but she could hardly wait until the baby could do its gymnastics in the outside world.

Lik came over to her, sitting next to her. The man seemed to finally be healing from the loss of his family. He had made it abundantly clear that he would be willing to bond with her, if for nothing else than to help raise the child, but Lavla had gently rebuffed his advances. She would take any help he would like to give her, however her heart still belonged to the father of her child, whether or not they could be together.

“We’re being followed,” Lik stated, shockingly coherent. It was like Ruby starting to speak.

Lavla simply nodded though. She’d had the same feeling over the past few hours. “Syns?”

“But not the ones that ambushed us. These are close and good.”

On and off over the years they had been tracked by military Syns. There were a great deal of perks in being in Appie’s clan, however, the down side was that they were well known to the Syns. Her parents had been killed due to their influence. And even though Appie showed no indications of following in their political footsteps, she seemed to avoid the spotlight and the Syns were clearly still worried.

But the Syns hadn’t attacked. They were probably waiting for the clan to reunite before springing their trap. And thinking of it, where was the ostrich? She hadn’t heard the delighted shrill laughter of the toddlers for a while.

“And what do you think we should do?” Lavla asked, turning back to the larger problem at hand.

“Give them what they want,” Lik answered.

That had been her thought as well. The Syns changed everything. The safer path was no longer over the Rockies but to rejoin with Appie and Mattu. Their Shawnee and powwaw would develop a plan to safeguard the clan.

“Head east then?” Lavla suggested.

“I will quietly spread the word,” Lik stated, rising. “Do you need anything?”

“Perhaps another half hour rest?” Lavla asked.

“Done.”

As the man walked away with a renewed sense of purpose, Lavla knew she could do much worse than Lik, but still she couldn’t bear the thought of bonding with anyone other than her mate.

* * *

Durnag laid low in the brush as Robertum came back from his scouting.

“They are definitely heading toward the Unclaimed Forest.”

“So we have been spotted?”

“Or suspected,” Robertum confirmed. “They know they are vulnerable without Appie and Mattu. Should we not attack now?”

Durnag shook his head. They were deep in raptor lands. An attack could trigger a full scale raptor attack, one that his unit may not survive. Besides, if you have a chance to kill the body and the head, why not take it?

“We will wait until they are together then attack in force.”

Robertum nodded. The wild Syn had done a better job than Durnag could have expected. However, he could not be trusted with the all of it.

“You are dismissed,” Durnag stated. “I am due for an uplink.”

The Syn inclined his head, backing away.

Durnag backed out of the brush and headed for the highest point that couldn’t be seen by the clan.

The uplinks used to happen daily, then weekly, now they were lucky to make it monthly. He couldn’t miss his window. The Council had the technology to create space shuttles. They simply didn’t have the raw materials, and their kind was stretched so thinly that they couldn’t spare them to mine the goods and keep the human population in check.

Who knew that taking over the world would be so taxing?

Plus the Syns refused to use anything but sustainable energy. Otherwise, how were they better than the humans they had replaced? The problem? Renewable energy was not easy to create or use. So their manufacturing power had been cut to a tenth of what the humans had used.

So here he was out in the wild, using an old human satellite to communicate with his superiors.

Durnag felt the surge of the connection, which was probably the closest thing to a religious experience he would ever feel. Then the click. Full connection. He could feel the steel and glass of the council headquarters. The feeling of pure robotics. Not a leaf or plant to be seen. No humans for hundreds of miles. If there was a Heaven for synthetics, it was there.

Unfortunately, the connection was sketchy at best. The infrastructure had slowly been declining for centuries but it felt like there was a new tipping point where the human technology would fail before the synthetics could rebuild their own.

So much for the bright new future of synthetics.

He could not let any of that discourage him. He had one simple task. Eliminate the humans. Of course that turned out to be harder than expected, but it only fueled Durnag’s sense of purpose. No matter the harsh realities, he still strove for a higher good. A world without humans.

“Autobot 997Alpha21?” a scratchy voice came over the communication line.

Funny to hear his synthetic name. Was he, too, going native in his preference for Durnag?

“Yes, challenge response code 449822PL91,” Durnag replied.

Another click as he was switched over to a secure channel.

“Update,” a brusque voice asked in his head.

“I am tracking the Tucker clan and should have them eliminated within the week.”

“That is all,” the voice responded before another loud click of disconnection.

Durnag stood there, in shock. He’d waited an entire month for his communiqué and it was over. He understood now how bitter the human’s Lucifer was when thrown out of Heaven. How could that be his entire check in? He had questions. He had wanted word of the council. Instead he got “that is all?”

Something akin to fury coursed through his energy channels. He was doing the council’s work and that is all they felt he deserved?

Perhaps it was time for another regime change.

Durnag quashed the thought. His intelligence chip had been given too much latitude to have him think of ever challenging the council.

He truly had spent too much time out in the wilds.

Shoving aside his rage, Durnag funneled that energy into his task at hand.

Soon Appie and her clan would be no more. With his mission fulfilled, he could return to the council and see for himself how the great city was doing.

* * *

Appie’s feet were sore but they probably had another few miles to go before they set up camp. She could have ridden Ruby, but that wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the trackers so she had trudged along with the rest of them. Besides, Ruby was having far too much fun, trotting here and there chasing butterflies.

Drake had held up better than she had thought, although his chin was nearly down to his chest and his feet dragged as he walked. The long stretch of prairie where there should have been a town seemed to weigh heavily upon him.

“Nothing’s the same,” he moaned as he shook his head. He’d told them of the university town that used to be here. Long ago. A long, long, long time ago. Appie had never even heard of the ruins. The place had been razed down to the ground.

She knew what it felt like to abruptly lose your parents. Even though it had been over five hundred years, to Drake he’d lost his parents and everything else in the blink of an eye.

At the least she’d had Mattu and Lik and Lavla to fall back to. Even Ruby, Tonka and Lev. Drake had nothing. And to find out your generation kind of destroyed humankind was probably a pretty big downer, as well.

Mattu raised his hand, stopping the trackers. “We will stop, eat and rest.”

Appie had never been happier to hear a break called before. While Pipo dug through the packs that had not been destroyed to make lunch, Appie sat down next to where Drake plopped himself down.

“How are you doing?” she knew the words sounded lame to even her ears.

“Oh, you know - a fish out of water.”

That made no sense as she cocked her head. Not all idioms survived the passage of time.

Drake continued, “It means that I feel out of place and don’t even feel like I can breathe.”

Appie could only imagine. At least her world was her world. Even without her parents, she belonged. Drake did not and he knew it.

Drake sighed next to her. “I feel bereft, confused, panicked, sad, yet exhilarated that I am alive. I didn’t think a human body could hold all those feelings at once.”

“Maybe this will make you feel better. She rummaged around in her pack and took out her slide viewer. “I know it isn’t anything as sophisticated as your equipment, but…”

The boy seemed to know what it was, putting the viewer up to the light and clicking on a slide. “Disneyland!”

Appie sat up straighter. “You know it?”

“Know it?” Drake said putting the viewer aside and looking at her. “We used to go every year. Then after I got sick, we went after every radiation treatment.”

There was a heaviness to his words, but Appie couldn’t help herself. “Was it really the happiest place on Earth?”

That got the boy to chuckle. “Yes, yes it was.”

Then the grin fell and he frowned. “But it’s gone. Just like everything else.

Appie gave him a sad smile. “We have the bunker, though. We will have a good winter.”

“I’m sure that means a lot to you, but for me having a good winter meant I was going to get a car for Christmas.”

Appie frowned, turning to look at the rest of the group. Fear shot through her. This fragmented clan had so far accepted Drake, but with words such as those…

“Are you an Apocalyptic?” Mattu asked. Appie noticed that he picked up his sword as he made his way over. Even Ruby took notice, walking back to the group as the tension crackled.

“An Apocalyptic?” Drake reflected back. “Not only am I not one, I’m not sure what one is?”

Mattu was speaking of the men and women who believed that God had judged mankind unworthy and were working toward completing the job that the Syns had started.

“Are you sure?” the powwaw demanded, bringing his sword around in front of him.

“Yes,” Drake answered in a shaky voice. “Don’t you guys still have Christmas?”

Appie cringed. About the only ones who spoke of the old world savior were Apocalyptics. They wanted to rejoin Christ and take them all with him. She knew what Drake was talking about though.

Holding up her hands, Appie stepped between Mattu and Drake. “In his day, Christmas was a holiday marked more by presents than spirituality,” she explained. “He was cryoed before the Fire, Mattu. Think it through. He was in that tube when the Apocalyptic rose to power.”

Her powwaw stopped in his tracks. She could see him thinking. In the end, he lowered his sword.

“Do not let him discuss this again in front of anyone else.”

“I will make sure of it, Mattu.”

The tension in the camp broke as Pipo laid out their meager lunch. They had lost more in the Unclaimed Forest than they had gained. Not for long though.

Appie sat down in the circle and patted the spot next to her for Drake to sit down. Ruby came over, wrapping her neck against Appie’s. She patted the metal then shooed the ostrich away before she could peck at Appie’s stale bread.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to make a scene.”

“It’s alright, you’ll learn quickly enough,” Appie replied.

“At least I have these,” Drake said as he pulled a handful of brightly colored wrappers. “They are okay, aren’t they?

“I’m not sure, what are they?” Appie asked.

“Candy bars,” Drake said. “My favorites. My parents packed them for when I awoke.”

The boy peeled back the wrapper to show a strange brown object which he put into his mouth, then ripped off a bite. He urged one of the wrappers toward her. She eyed Mattu who frowned.

Most food they did not know was poisonous. Contaminated. Or spiked with chemicals the Syns had pumped into the food supply after the Fire.

But these bars had been in the bunker the whole time. Could they be safe?

Appie sniffed at the wrapper. It smelled a little of mold and another scent she wasn’t familiar with.

“The lockers were in stasis,” Drake explained. “They taste as fresh as the day I put them in the pack.”

Appie tore the corner off the wrapper as Drake had done and took another sniff. This time it smelled of goodness. Goodness incarnate. She brought it to her lips and licked just a little. It tasted as good as it smelled.

Then she got the courage to take nibble off the side. The taste was beyond what she could describe. Sweet, yet rich. Soft, yet filling. Her mouth felt like it had been bathed in the nectar of the gods.

“Chocolate?” Appie asked. Her parents had told her stories of such a thing, but she thought them to be legends to get her to go to bed early with promises of the delightful taste. It was better than even the toffee Lavla made each winter solstice.

Drake nodded and smiled.

“Good to know our taste buds haven’t changed all that much over five hundred years.”

He then dispensed a candy bar to each of them. In typical Mattu fashion, he placed his in his pack and stared out over the grassland as the others ate theirs.

“I think it is healing my arm,” Old Man Grey said through a broken toothed smile. Even Pipo grinned as she ate the gift.

Appie was glad to see that something cheered the woman up.

Drake pulled out a small rectangular box with a grey screen. Breath caught in Appie’s throat. It could not be. She had seen them before, usually rusted and cracked.

“It that a DVD player?” she asked in hushed reverence.

The boy shook his head. “No it’s a compact media player.” He tried to turn it on, but the screen remained grey. “But it looks like the batteries are dead.”

Appie reached into her pack. “I have some.”

“Appie,” Mattu warned his tone low and disapproving. “Those are for emergencies.”

She tipped her head back the way they had come. “There are probably hundreds of batteries in there, can I not please be indulged, Mattu?”

* * *

Drake watched the two’s unspoken conversation. At times they seemed like father and daughter, like now. While other times it seemed the girl was in charge and the man her second.

Odd.

With no words spoken, the girl, Appie, smiled and removed the batteries from her pack. “Here.”

He popped the cover off and replaced the batteries, resealed the case, then hit the switch. The screen bloomed to life, an animated bird flying around the screen while the command screen loaded.

Appie’s hand flew to her mouth and her eyes were wide open.

“Do you have movies?” she asked.

Drake chuckled. “I’ve got about a hundred loaded on here,” he said as he dug in his pack. “But another thousand or so on these micro-discs.”

If possible, the girl’s eyes dilated even further, “A thousand?”

She looked to him for confirmation. “Yes, a thousand. What are you in the mood for?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean.”

Drake grinned. This new world was so different. “Comedy? Action? Drama?”

“Oh,” Appie breathed out, her smile growing. “Do you have any Jim Carey?”

“Do I have Jim Carey? Would you like Ace Ventura or the Grinch?”

“I don’t know. Whichever you like better.”

He dug through his discs and pulled out the right one. “Ace Ventura here you come.”

The girl’s eyes were wide as the movie loaded and played. She seemed like a five-year-old on Christmas morning, not that he was ever going to reference that holiday again.

The man, Mattu, stood abruptly. “Enough.”

Despite her obvious fascination, Appie nodded for him to turn it off. She rose, her face masked with concern as the ostrich startled, charging out into the prairie her wings out, fluttering.

“What is it, Mattu?” Appie asked.

The dark man pointed to the far horizon. “A fire.”

Appie frowned as well. “Why would they light a bonfire such as that?”

“To send us a signal,” Mattu said.

Drake stared into the distance. All he could see was puffs of smoke.

“They are using smoke signals,” the older woman blurted out. She squinted. “They are being followed.”

A look passed between Mattu and Appie. “Syns, Chimmus?”

The other young girl got into the mix. “Yes.”

Mattu picked up his pack and set off at a trot toward the forest.

The others gathered their belongings quickly to follow. Chimmus looked at him strangely then took off.

“Wait,” Drake said. “What’s going on?”

Appie talked as she helped the older woman pack the food. “Syns are synthetics. Robots. If they are following and not attacking, they are probably waiting for us to show back up.”

The others left, leaving just Appie and Drake and of course, Ruby.

“I still don’t understand,” Drake moaned. He just wanted to curl up and cry or sleep. More than likely, cry. Mourn all that he had lost, or at the least rage at this new world he had been thrust into. And now they were on the move again, toward that bunker. You know, the one with flying dinosaurs with fangs as long as his pinkie and whatever that thing was that was banging on the front door.

“I’ll explain when I can, but for now, we have to get moving.”

Drake rummaged through his pack. “At the least let me get these on.

He pulled out his second skin shoes. Appie took a step back.

“What are those?”

He looked down at the odd looking pair. He, too, would have been confused if he didn’t already know what they were. When he got sick, his parents had indulged him with anything he fancied. And these Nikes had been high on his list. A wave of sadness went through him. His parents. They had done everything possible to save him and in the end, when they couldn’t, they had done the unthinkable and frozen him.

Appie shuffled next to him, bringing him back to this time and this land.

“I take it you guys don’t have bio-organic shoes?” Drake didn’t wait for the answer. These people were running around with spears and sending smoke signals. He slipped on the rubber looking “slippers.” The shoes had been dormant for centuries so it took his body heat a few moments to “wake up” the biological molecules that confirmed the shoe to fit his foot perfectly.

Grinning at the shocked look on her face, Drake waved his arm toward the forest. “Ladies first.”

CHAPTER 5

Lavla tried to keep her groaning quiet, but her back ached as if a brontosaurus had walked across it. She held her belly with both hands, trusting that Lev would keep a steady pace. Only occasionally did she have to lash out to catch his metallic mane to keep herself aright.

“Is it time?” Lik asked beside her. He hadn’t left her side since they began the march across the plains towards the Unclaimed Forest.

She had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. “I’m fine.”

His eyebrow raised. He might be a bit off, but he could see her distress.

“We should stop,” he offered.

“No!” Lavla snapped. “I will be in the same amount of pain whether we are stopped or not. I cannot risk the clan just to take a break.”

“You are in labor,” Lik retorted. “They will understand.”

“I am not in…”

Then her water broke, gushing over Lev’s shoulders.

Lik just gave her that look.

“We keep moving,” Lavla said sternly. Lik shrugged as they continued.

They had to keep going. Even though they had not yet had a response from Appie, the clan headed toward the forest. They could not take on the Syns alone. Even though it felt as if they were bringing trouble to Appie’s doorway, she knew that their leader would have it no other way.

Lavla looked over the shoulder behind the clan. It looked clear, but the Syns were there, she knew it. She could feel them. She could also feel the baby within her demanding to be released into the world.

Why could he not have waited another day?

As the contractions got closer and closer together, she could only hope he waited until they were rejoined with Mattu.

“Ahead!” Choukoli yelled, pointing toward the forest. At the edge was a fire. There were no smoke signals. There was no need. The flames were Appie’s answer. The head of the group turned west toward the fire.

Lavla was greatly relieved that it wasn’t far. Perhaps they could reach it before the baby came.

As another contraction gripped her body, Lavla realized it was only perhaps.

* * *

“I don’t get it,” Drake said, sounding like a broken record even to himself. He didn’t get any of it. Ever since he had woken, he had been confused and numb. How could he feel anything under the circumstances? If he actually tuned into his current circumstance, he feared he would just curl up into the fetal position.

Ruby’s constant pestering for grain wasn’t helping anything either.

“Why are we going back in there with the bats and the Spino-whatever?”

The rest of the group was busy arming themselves. They had shields woven of leaves. It was crazy.

“We have nothing to throw off the Syns,” Mattu explained in a tone that Drake assumed that the tall man used for small children.

Appie came over. “If we can choose the battleground, we greatly increase our survival. Out in the open like that, we can be surrounded.”

Okay, he got that, but what about the dats? “But in there…”

Mattu shrugged. “We will cover the vents to prevent more Jeholos from entering then take care of the rest.”

“Take care of the rest?” Drake could hear his voice go up a few octaves. They barely survived the last attack. What had changed since the last time?

“Turn around,” Appie ordered.

He obeyed the girl only because he didn’t have any reason not to trust her. She secured a tightly woven guard around his neck then tied two more onto his wrists.

“It isn’t perfect, but it will protect your more vulnerable veins.”

And to think he’d once thought cancer was the worst thing he’d ever have to face. Dats hadn’t even been on his radar back then.

Drake squeezed his toes into his bio-organic shoes. They would need to be watered soon. Stasis hadn’t been kind to them, but they were still better than any other shoes in the world. They automatically adjusted to his stance, creating an almost bounce-like quality to his walk. Now if only they could protect him from the reptilian vampire bats.

“Ready?” Mattu asked as he put his hand on the handle of the door.

Drake wished that he could say no, but he certainly didn’t want to stay out here by himself, even with the huge bonfire crackling and smoking behind them.

Appie gave him a wan smile as she nodded to Mattu.

Taking in a deep breath, Drake clung to the staff that Appie had given him.

Time to take on his worst nightmare.

* * *

Appie closed her eyes as Mattu opened the door. Not that she was afraid. Well, not because she was that afraid. No, she needed to adjust her eyes to the dark. She heard the clunk of the door and a slight whooshing sound. She took two steps forward and entered the long downward-sloping hallway. Only then did she open her eyes. Light streamed in from behind her, illuminating a little ways down the hall. It appeared empty, however they all knew what awaited them deeper in the bowels of the facility.

She could feel Drake’s quivering body behind her. If any of her clan shook so, she would be embarrassed for them and eject them from the tracking party, but Drake was different. He was not accustomed to their harsh world. For goodness sake, the boy had over a thousand movies at his disposal. That was a lot of free time on his hands, hands that clearly had never held a weapon before.

But still he came. That was courage. He continued moving forward even in the face of so much fear. So, instead of embarrassed, she was proud of him. She only hoped they both survived long enough for her to tell him that.

Ruby came alongside her, nudging Appie’s arm, not for grain but for comfort.

The first Jeholo came swooping in, blaring its sonar, trying to confuse them. Fortunately Mattu had them stuff grass in their ears, dulling the sharp sound, keeping their wits about them.

Salvve took the lead, his long spear the most effective weapon they had. Pipo had a crossbow but only five bolts, so she was held in reserve, only to use them in the most desperate of circumstances. They were going to need those bolts against the Syns.

The spear flew from Salvve’s hand, flying true, nailing the Jeholo square in the chest. The thing screamed, then fell to the floor. Ruby squawked, backing away from the violence. Salvve ran forward, put his foot on the bat and pulled the spear out, stabbing the creature several more time to make sure it was dead, then took up the lead position again.

Appie dug her fingers into her short spear. It didn’t fly nearly as well and was usually used for close combat, although allowing a Jeholo close courted danger.

“Stay behind me,” Appie said to Drake as they descended the tunnel.

“No problem there,” he answered in a shaky voice.

* * *

Drake gulped as the next dat flew towards them. This time the dat tilted, avoiding Salvve’s spear. After course correcting, it flew straight at the wide man. Then a bolt went through the thing’s neck. It spun several times then crashed to the ground. Mattu was there, stabbing it with this sword as he glared at Pipo.

“Emergencies only.”

Pipo walked over and pulled the bolt out, putting it back into her quiver. “Nothing was wasted.”

She then went over and butted foreheads with Salvve.

Now that was a marriage.

All turned as the flapping of another creature filled the tunnel.

Mattu strode forward. “We must make haste.”

The tall man rushed forward, slicing the dat’s wing as he ran by it. The thing wobbled, flapping a non-wing, finally crashing into the wall. Chimmus took it from there. By the time Drake got to the spot, it was slick with blood. Luckily his bio-organic shoes compensated, creating a rough sole to keep him on his feet.

Ruby ran next to him allowing him to balance against her metal frame.

Drake held his breath as they continued down the long hallway that he knew sloped under the forest, striking for the center of it.

It took them several minutes to finally reach the main level. The door was ajar. During their escape they had not been able to close it.

Where were the dats? Drake clung to his staff knowing it wouldn’t do much good in his hands. Pipo had her crossbow up. The rest had their weapons at the ready. Everyone seemed on edge that there hadn’t been more dats in the hallway.

Silently they slipped past the door and into the cryo room.

Then they stopped. Dozens of dats hung from the ceiling.

“They are in their hylar phase. Those others were just scouts.” Mattu stated.

Appie whispered to Drake, “A temporary hibernation they go into after they take a grueling hunt.”

“Will it last long?” Drake asked.

“No more than a day’s length, and they can be rousted fairly easily,” Appie continued, “Unlike their Trydar phase, which lasts months.”

So much for a quick victory then.

Mattu moved quickly and quietly to start blocking the vents to prevent more of the dats from coming in. Then Drake got an idea. He headed to the wall and grabbed seven face masks. He handed one to Appie.

“Put this on.”

She turned the object over in her hand. “Why?”

He handed the next to Mattu. “These will protect us.”

“From what exactly?” Chimmus asked as he handed her a unit.

“If we shatter the tubes, the gas inside of it will kill off the dats, the masks will prevent our lungs from being damaged.”

Mattu seemed to weigh the mask in his hand turning it over, inspecting each side. “I have not heard of such a thing.”

“Well, I’m familiar with them. It was part of our orientation.”

Appie stepped up next to him. “If Drake is right, we can take out all the Jeholos together without risk to ourselves.”

“That is what worries me,” Mattu said in a low dangerous tone.

“What?” Chimmus asked.

“Plans this simple seldom go as planned.”

* * *

Appie bit her lip, absently patting Ruby. Mattu was right. Many had spoken eloquently of the benefits of old world weapons or defenses. Yet each time they rarely worked as they should have, more than likely causing harm to the person trying to use it, rather than to the enemy.

“Most of us will go behind the door. That risks only one to smash the tubes,” Drake reasoned.

“I shall stay,” Appie announced.

“Or I,” Chimmus chimed in.

“It shall be I,” Mattu stated.

Drake stepped forward shaking his head. “It’s my plan, it will be me.”

Mattu looked the boy up and down. Drake still seemed as off balance and as scared as ever, but there was also a strength, possibly the reason he had survived when so many others had succumbed to their icy grave.

Mattu gave a single nod. “Once the glass begins to shatter, the Jeholos will awaken. You must find a hiding place until they die.”

Drake clutched his walking stick. She’d told him it was a staff, but really it was Old Man Grey’s walking stick, however it seemed well suited for the task. The older man was the first one into the hall. Pipo helped him with his mask.

Then the group was behind the door and he was alone in the cryo room with dozens of creatures dangling above him. The cryo gas was not meant to inhale. As a matter of fact, it was quite toxic. He remembered the scientists hammering that into his head.

That the gas had to be evacuated before the subject was awakened and took his first breath.

Hands shaking, Drake focused on the first tube. He’d played baseball and had a two-fifty average so he had a pretty nice swing. He didn’t usually hit the bleachers, but he’d hit a few solid doubles in his day.

If only his parents could see him now. They would not believe it.

For a moment, melancholy threatened to overwhelm him. How long had they lived after he’d been put in the tube? Did they live to see the nuclear holocaust? Drake hoped not.

He had to shove all of that down though. He had a task at hand and people were relying on him.

Squaring his feet, Drake cocked the staff back and swung as hard as he could. Mattu had been right. The dats woke up as soon as the wood connected with the glass. It was hard to see through his gas mask and the white fog, so he moved to the next tube. The more he broke, the faster the dats would go down.

One flew at him, trying to latch onto his wrist, but the guard Appie put there slowed him enough that Drake was able to throw the beast off. He went to the next tube, shattering it.

By now the dats were gasping and screeching and gasping some more. He hit another tube. In their panic, they were now biting anything they could get to. Drake dove under the counter, trying to stay out of the way of the swarm.

A dat followed him though and would have found purchase if Ruby hadn’t grabbed the thing by its tail, dragging it out from under the counter.

Another dat fell to the floor, flapping pitifully, blood pouring from its nostrils. Then another dropped. Then the sound of thumps filled the air until there were no more.

Drake rose up on one elbow to peer out from beneath the counter. The floor was lined by dead dats.

It had worked!

He scrambled out from under the metal table to find one dat still very much alive. It stood on the floor, below the level of the gas which had risen. Its red-rimmed eyes seemed to glow in the foggy room.

Mattu’s words rang in his ear. Seldom did simple plans go accordingly, or something like that.

Drake cocked his bat back, turning to the side, getting ready to take the swing of his life.

To his surprise the dat backed up, retreating under a table, getting out of reach of even Ruby’s long neck. Drake took a step forward, the dat backed as well, then tried to climb into the vent that Mattu had blocked.

Drake just couldn’t attack a creature, even as fearsome as the dat, while it was in retreat.

Instead he went to the door and opened it. “Be careful there’s one still alive.”

The group entered the room, surveying through the white fog. The surviving dat flapped his wings, gaining height.

Everyone else raised their weapons, but Drake stepped in front of them.

“I think it just wants to escape.”

And sure enough the creature sailed over their heads, flying into the tunnel, up and away. Appie slammed the door shut.

“Just in case he changes his mind.”

* * *

Lik caught Lavla just before she fell off of Lev. The contractions were right on top of each other. She had no time to catch her breath or hang onto the metallic lion.

“We must stop,” Lik implored.

Lavla shook her head. “We must make the forest first.”

Despite her best efforts, her labor had attracted much attention. Most of the clan surrounded Lev and Lavla. Only the young ones, riding with the supplies on Tonka, were not in attendance.

The Widow Ritto held Lavla’s hand. “Child, we must prepare for the birth.”

Lavla refused, pulling her hand from the old woman’s. “We must make a run for it.”

“But, why?” Ritto begged.

Most of the clan did not know of the Syn danger. Lik and she had thought it best to keep the knowledge amongst them to stop widespread panic.

Lik looked to Lavla. She nodded. It was time the clan knew.

“Syns are tracking us. Experts, not the local wild ones,” Lik stated.

A gasp went up amongst the clan. Dinosaurs were one thing. A concerted Syn attack was another. Ritto backed away.

“You are right.”

Lavla had already known that. Her life and even her infant child’s life were nothing compared to the clan’s.

“Allow me,” Lik said as he climbed on behind her.

He maneuvered her so that he was holding her in his arms, gently cradling her. Even though she did not feel the same way as Lik, Lavla did not argue as he wrapped his arms around her. This position was infinitely more comfortable than trying to straddle Lev.

The baby’s father had sworn he would be at their son’s birth.

As the contractions and the moments ticked by, Lavla was worried he could not fulfill that promise.

* * *

“They are making a run for it,” Robertum stated as he rushed back to the camp.

Between the smoke signals and the corresponding fire near the forest, Durnag had assumed some foolhardy attempt to escape would be coming soon.

He waved the anxious Robertum off. “We shall follow.”

“Are you sure we should not attack now?”

Durnag looked up slowly at the newest member of his unit. The expression must have been enough as Robertum lowered his gaze and bowed before Durnag.

“I want to cut out the entire cancer,” Durnag stated. “We will have them from the east and the forest will have them from the west.”

“What of the bunker?”

Durnag snorted, a most human expression, he would monitor himself in the future. “No bunkers survived.”

Again his expression must have stilled the words in Robertum’s throat for he spoke no more.

“Prepare the soldiers. We will move north along the crest and attack from the edge of the eastern forest.”

Robertum only nodded, backing away then trotting off toward the heart of the camp.

There was no wonder Durnag had been brought in to take care of this clan. There had been four or five other dispatches from the council. All had ended up terminated.

Whereas, Durnag had fulfilled how many missions seamlessly? He had single-handedly wiped out over a hundred clans. The Motiks. The Hendersons. The Valmonts. All the great clans. Gone. The agitators put to rest.

Now the Tuckers.

After this there were no more great families. The rest of the clans were scattered, afraid. None would be left to challenge the council.

None.

CHAPTER 6

Appie couldn’t believe everything that was within the bunker as they explored it further. They had guns, ammunition, and metal galore. It was like an old world metal emporium. She wasn’t sure if they had metal emporiums, but this was exactly what one would look like.

Turning, she caught Drake’s gaze. She gave a smile. This was all because of him. Had they attempted to take on the Jeholos on their own, none of them would have been as hale and hardy as they were to be able to enjoy the abundance before them. Ruby’s normally happy countenance was near jubilant. She’d never seen so much grain in her long life.

Chimmus came around the corner, several necklaces around her neck and a piece of cornbread in the mouth. She tried to talk but all Appie got were crumbs in the face.

“Slow down,” Appie urged.

Chimmus wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Can’t you just enjoy yourself for once?”

So easy for Chimmus to say. She wasn’t responsible for dozens of souls. She could be brash and foolhardy. No one’s life depended on her.

Besides, Appie was enjoying herself. They had found a stash of the micro-discs that Drake was talking about. She could literally spend years watching them. And that was exactly what she planned on doing once the clan was safe.

She would turn over the clan’s authority to Mattu and live a fun life such as Chimmus could only imagine.

Pipo burst into the room. “There’s enough flour here to bake enough bread for all the clans.”

The woman’s hope had returned.

Even Old Man Grey wore a smile. “And the medicinals, Appie. There will be no more stomach scourge.”

Besides the Syns and the dinosaurs, illness haunted every clan. A fully grown healthy man could be taken down by a single sip of the wrong water.

“There’s even medicine to help Lavla with labor,” Pipo said, brushing back some stray hairs. “I think we might even be able to help Lik and his limp.”

Then the two women rushed back out of the room to categorize their prizes.

Mattu on the other hand sat cross-legged in the middle of the storeroom, his eyes closed.

Appie knew that he was praying his thankfulness. He would take nothing from the store for himself. Everything would be used for the clan and any other clan that was in dire need.

She walked over and sat next to him. He had the right of it.

Mattu slowly opened his eyes. “Chimmus is correct. You should enjoy yourself.”

Appie shook her head. “I have no need for any of this, only to know our clan is safe.”

Mattu frowned. “Do not become me, Appie. Your young heart is what feeds our clan’s soul. Look to your movies. Listen to your music. I will be sure the gods know of our gratitude.”

Her powwaw broke their gaze and looked to Drake. “Take her. Do not return her until she is full of giggles and happiness.”

“Mattu…”

The older man nudged her up as Drake offered his hand.

With a sigh she rose. This didn’t feel right. As Shawnee, she should have been on the floor and Mattu reveling in their new stores.

But she knew her powwaw. He would not relent now that he had spoken his wishes.

Drake tugged her toward another room. “Come on, there’s a clothing room.”

* * *

Appie’s hand fell from Drake’s as they entered the storage area. He didn’t take it personally. The room was impressive even to him. The clothes were meant for all the people that were scheduled to emerge from the tubes. There were men and women’s clothing, jeans and couture dresses. This was, after all, a pretty affluent crowd.

Ruby strutted in behind them, pecking with her beak, tugging at the clothes, Drake assumed to make sure they weren’t hiding any grain.

Appie walked down the row, her hand touching the fabric. “It is so soft,” she murmured.

Her fingers played with the edge of a chiffon dress. “And these were worn?”

Drake couldn’t help but chuckle. She of course meant worn outside on the savannah, chasing down dinosaurs.

“Yes they were worn, but to parties and events.”

“Like a gathering?” Appie asked wide-eyed.

Drake had not been to a gathering before, but he doubted if chiffon had ever been in attendance before.

“No, more like my age where we got together in a room with decorations and music.”

“No weapons?” Appie asked narrow-eyed.

“No. None. Parties were purely social functions.”

Appie sighed, putting tulle up to her face. “In all that free time they could not have solved the nuclear problem?”

Drake’s smile fled. She was right. His generation had perhaps partied a bit too much rather than working on the world’s problems. Had they been Nero? Dancing while Rome burned?

He was almost glad to have been asleep through it. At the least the destruction of mankind wasn’t on his shoulders.

“I don’t think anyone realized how far on the edge they were until it was too late.”

“Like a hare when a hawk is watching from above.”

“Yes, something like that,” Drake answered.

He hadn’t noticed how pretty Appie was. Now that her face wasn’t pulled into a grimace getting ready to fight, her beauty shone through. It made him uncomfortable. He’d had a girlfriend, back before he got sick, but he certainly was no lady’s man. That had been his best friend, Kyle.

What had happened to the teen? Would he ever know?

“Mine, mine, mine,” Chimmus announced as she walked into the room. She grabbed the dress that Appie had been admiring right off the hangar, then grabbed several other items and was gone as quickly as she had come. Ruby hissed at the rude teen.

Appie frowned and nearly went after the girl, but Drake caught Appie by the arm. “Let her have them. There are plenty more.”

* * *

She wanted to argue, but with this much bounty how could she blame Chimmus for her wants? The girl had never even had a brand new set of leather leggings before. Without parents, she had grown up with hand-me-downs.

The yellow dress would look beautiful on her.

“Besides,” Drake said. “This green one matches your eyes.”

Was clothing supposed to match your eyes? Appie had never heard such a thing. It must have been an old world tradition. She was learning more about the old world in the past few hours than her parents had ever taught her. How they would have relished this find, and Drake.

His hand slid over hers as she touched the slight material.

“It is silk,” Drake explained, closing his fingers over hers. She turned to look into his eyes. They were the color of the sky just before a storm hit. Normally she disliked the company of boys her age. They were too worried about their stature in the clan, always proving themselves.

Drake had no need. Without effort he had proven his worth a hundred times over.

Then Mattu entered the room. Appie’s hand fell away from Drake’s.

“I’m going up to witness the clan’s progress.”

Appie wiped her sweaty palms against her pants. “Of course, I will join you.”

“No need,” Mattu stated. “I am taking Grey.” Before she could answer, Mattu added. “And that is final.”

Her mouth snapped shut.

Drake stepped forward. “Just remember there is that last dat.”

Mattu held up his hand. “Trust that I will let the beast out as long as he does not attack us. I would not come between you and your totem.”

* * *

Drake watched as Mattu and Grey left. He turned back to Appie, but she was several steps away. He thought they’d had a moment. Just a moment, but then it was gone.

“We should catalog the essential versus non-essential goods while Mattu is gone,” Appie stated leaving the room.

Perhaps that moment would never happen again.

Grabbing a few pairs of jeans, Drake followed Appie out of the room, turning out the light behind them.

They walked out into the main cryo room to find Pipo and Salvve skinning and cleaning the dat meat off the bone. Even with all of the supplies here, the clan still left nothing to waste. The other bodies, the human bodies, had been removed from sight. Drake was glad for that.

Appie took a step forward. “I’ll start an inventory.”

The others simply nodded and continued their work.

Then Chimmus walked in from another room. She was wearing the chiffon dress, but she had cut it up the middle to reveal a pair of jean underneath and she had on a camouflage jacket over the ensemble.

Drake almost opened his mouth to tell her that wasn’t how it was worn, or at least not since days of Sid and Nancy. However, the girl seemed so very pleased with herself, he just couldn’t.

“Looks better on me,” Chimmus stated, as she walked by Appie.

The Shawnee seemed to let the slight slide off of her as she gave an order. “Catalog the medical supplies.”

To his surprise Chimmus didn’t retort back. She simply went over to the medicine cabinet and began her job. He guessed insulting the boss was one thing, disobeying her was another.

“What do you want me to do?” Drake asked just as the banging at the front door started up again. Guess whatever was out there had heard them.

Appie looked over her shoulder at the staircase that led to the main entrance. She bit her lip. “Start packing the perishables. We may have to leave in a hurry.”

Yah, Drake kind of got that. He went to the stasis storage room and grabbed a few bags and started packing up the essentials. Flour, sugar, salt, and of course, chocolate chips.

He also found some coffee and tea and baking powder. He wasn’t quite sure what that was used for but there was a lot of it so he packed it.

The banging became almost routine. Almost a melody to hum along to. Drake let his mind wander, not keeping it strictly to its task. It needed to do some serious processing.

How had things gone so wrong? The doctors had said that a cure for his kind of cancer was within a decade, which was before the nuclear holocaust. Why hadn’t he been awakened then? Had his parents died? What else could explain their lack of participation?

And how, out of the rest of the tubes, had he survived?

He should be dead. Long ago. And yet here he was alive five hundred years later in a world that would have even challenged Mad Max.

“Drake!” a voiced called out from the main room.

Drake rushed out to find Chimmus holding out a vial. “It has your name on it.”

His hand shook as he took the vial. The handwriting was his mother’s. It described the serum within and that he should take a last dose to cure himself of the cancer.

“What is this long number at the end?” Drake asked.

Pipo stood and pointed to a view screen. “I’ve seen numbers like that over there.”

Drake went over and typed in the number to the keyboard. His mother’s beautiful, but sad face bloomed on the screen.

“Drake, if you are watching this you have awoken, and for that your father and I are so grateful.”

He reached out and touched the screen, brushing his mother’s cheek. She had stood by him every moment of his life. Never wavering. Never putting herself above his needs.

“We have finally got the cure, and we have given you the first dose. However the doctors say it won’t be very effective while you are in cryo so you must take another dose the day you awaken.”

Drake looked down at the small vial. It seemed too tiny to cure anything, let alone his aggressive cancer.

Tears spilled down his mother’s cheeks as she continued. “You are probably wondering why we aren’t waking you up now….”

Yes, as a matter of fact that was exactly what Drake was wondering.

“You know that tipping point everyone teased Al Gore for? Well, he is the last one laughing now. We hit it a few years back and things have gotten….bad and they only look like they are going to get worse.”

Drake could feel tears now rolling down his cheeks. He could remember his mother’s hug like it was yesterday. But in the picture she looked a decade older. More wrinkles, less spark in her eyes. And where was Dad?

“Your father is in the hospital. His heart again. They even gave him an artificial one, but his blood vessels are collapsing. And my kidneys, well with my rare blood type, we aren’t going to find a donor anytime soon.”

Why hadn’t he been there for them? He should be the one comforting them, not the other way around. His whole life had been turned upside down by the cancer.

He felt Appie’s presence to his left. While they did not touch, she still gave him strength.

“We want you to know that your father and I have discussed this at length and have weighed all the information, and in no way are we abandoning you.”

What in the heck was she talking about?

“We could put ourselves in cryo as well, but then we could only afford a few hundred years each and the experts are saying we could be thrown into another Dark Age that could last centuries.”

Now Drake was starting to understand what his mother was talking about, but they really couldn’t have made that decision, could they?”

“So your father and I have decided that the best course of action is to allow nature to take its course with us and prepay for your cryo for a thousand years. Now that you are cured, you deserve the best chance for a happy life.”

He snorted around his tears. Clearly his parents hadn’t expected a robot versus dinosaur versus human world. But now, at least some of this made sense. By prepaying for so long, that must have kept his tube fully functioning, hence why he was alive and the rest long dead. It was common only to pay a few decades in advance back then.

His parents had gifted him with the greatest legacy of all.

He leaned forward and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek as she finished.

“Know that we love you, Drake, and wish we could have spent our final years with you. Know that whenever you wake, we shall be there in spirit. No matter the circumstances of your awakening, we wish you the very best.”

Then the picture snapped off and Drake was left feeling empty on the inside. It was like his life was taken away again.

“Uh oh,” Chimmus said behind him. Drake didn’t even care what she was talking about.

* * *

Appie spun around to the girl who was wearing her dress. “What?”

“Listen.”

Appie cocked an ear but didn’t hear anything. “And your point?”

“Well,” Chimmus said pointedly. “Either Spino has given up or he’s broken through.”

A chill coursed down Appie’s belly and clenched her stomach. Spinos weren’t too bright and tended to latch onto a prey and not let go. It didn’t stop because it got bored.

“I will go see,” Appie stated.

“No, allow me” Chimmus offered.

Appie looked the girl up and down. “And with you looking like a giant lemon? I think not. Wait here in case Mattu returns.”

Brooking no more argument, Appie left to climb the staircase. She had a large rifle she had found in one of the storage rooms. Her father had taught her how to load and shoot one, but she knew even this large weapon wasn’t going to crack that Spino’s skull.

Carefully she crept forward, cocking her head every few feet, trying to divine what was happening up ahead. But there were no clues. Not a sound. Not a sight except for Ruby following her despite Appie’s protest. Soon she just gave up. It was easier to let the ostrich follow. Stepping foot over foot, Appie kept her presence to a minimum. She carried no torch or flickering light. She did not wish to give any dinosaur a target.

Finally she arrived at the outer door. It was warped and beaten. A corner was pulled up, but not nearly enough to fit even the snout of the Spino. She tried to open the door, but it was stuck.

Even putting her back into it, Appie couldn’t get it to budge.

This was going to take some time and Ruby was no help nudging her pockets for grain.

CHAPTER 7

Lavla’s body was consumed with pain. It was like her insides were on fire, only hotter than that. Down below? She could not even quantify how her nether region felt. Excruciating was the closest she could come.

“Look!” someone yelled. “Mattu!”

Even in her agony, she was glad to hear the name. Lik was right beside her, holding her hand until she feared she would break it.

The widow was kneeling between Lavla’s spread legs.

“He is crowning!” she yelled. “One more big push.”

Lavla feared she did not have one more big push in her. She felt spent. Tapped. Like she’d run after a tritop for an hour without water or food.

“Push!” the widow yelled as Lik kissed her forehead. “One more.”

It was more from his ministrations than the widow that Lavla took another big breath, helping her body as the contraction spread through her belly. She was grinding her teeth while she pushed as hard as she could.

Over her own screams she heard Mattu, “What is the meaning…”

Then the tall man stopped and dropped to his knees beside her. “Forgive me, Lavla, I did not know.”

She could not answer him as she felt herself shredded as the baby’s head came out. The widow was working frantically down there, tugging at the infant’s arm.

“We’ve got a shoulder stuck.”

Panting, Lavla couldn’t even comprehend what that meant. Only that the pain arched through her body like liquid lightening.

“May I?” Mattu asked even though he did not need to. She could only nod.

The powwaw knelt beside the widow. “I must push his arm back in.”

“No,” she moaned, but Mattu wisely ignored her. If pushing a baby out was painful, pushing one back in was doubly so. She screamed her lungs out, hoping each young woman heard her and knew what to expect.

“Wait. Don’t push.”

But her body wanted nothing more than to push. She tried to hold back, but her belly undulated with contractions.

* * *

Durnag could hear the woman from all the way across the meadows. Humans. You would think they would learn from their long and painful labor that perhaps nature did not mean for them to breed such as they did. No other animal struggled so with giving birth. A cow would be embarrassed to act so.

“Do we go now?” Robertum asked from beside him.

“No, there is no sign of Appalachia. We go when we spot her.”

Their newest soldier seemed quite eager to engage in the fight. Perhaps too much so. He’d seen other synthetics drown in their own battle lust. He hoped this did not happen to Robertum. His wild days had taught him much that Durnag’s programming had not.

Robertum had kept them right alongside the clan with minimal effort.

Durnag looked back over his troops. So few after having been so many. And none were whole. Each scarred in his own way. Would it be enough to take out the clan? They would find out soon enough.

They either destroyed the clan or were destroyed themselves. It would be worth it to see the girl that could wipe out his kind dead on the ground.

But for now he must sit and wait for the opportune time to strike.

* * *

Appie finally had the door freed from its hinges. Still, nothing came from the other side. Spinos weren’t exactly known for their duplicity. Something had happened. She wasn’t sure yet what it might be, but she had to find out.

Carefully, trying to avoid making any sound, she lifted the heavy metal door and moved it out of the way enough to peek through. The Spino was still there, only it was on the ground, dead. There weren’t a whole lot of dinosaurs that could kill an adult Spino and the small bite wounds told her who the culprit was

Troodons.

She went to close the door back when one jumped down from above, landing right in front of the door, hissing at her. Not worried about the noise, Appie tried to slam the door shut but a claw lashed out, grabbing the edge of the door, holding it open. Appie threw herself back, adding her weight to her effort, crushing the dinosaur’s fingers between the metal. The beast screamed, retracting its hand. Although, that did not stop the danger.

Troodons were no raptors, but one of them had figured out how to grab the handle from the other side and heave. Appie dug her feet into the ground, holding the door closed as much as she could, but it was off its hinges and tilted precariously. She would never get it back with the Troodons thwarting her from the other side.

Appie thought about crying for help, but the bunker was too deep. No one would hear her, and even if they did, what help could they be?

No, she was going to have to solve this problem herself. But she was not alone. Ruby helped by pecking at the Troodon’s digits, causing the beast to let go.

Sucking in a breath, she prepared for what she needed to do. Throwing her shoulder up, she swung the shotgun into position.

Bracing herself, she let go of the door. Just like a child unprepared for the trick, the Troodon fell backwards. Appie brought the shotgun around, and as the Troodon righted itself and prepared to charge, she fired.

The blast roared in her ears, nearly louder than anything she’d ever heard before. The shot blew a hole in the Troodon’s chest. She could see its still beating heart.

Then it fell backwards, dead.

The other Troodons, about six of them, backed away as well. She cocked the shotgun again, but did not fire. She knew how quickly ammunition could run out. Instead she aimed at the largest of the Troodons.

His eyes squinted then he tossed his head toward the forest and the pack melted from sight. Appie had no illusions of how far they would go. They still had a dead Spino to pick over. Appie used her time wisely, getting the door back up and onto its hinges. The metal complained as she forced it back into its frame.

Eventually the Troodons would break back in, but hopefully by then they would be well clear of here.

* * *

The baby was finally in the right position.

“You may push now,” Mattu stated as if Lavla were completing a task as simple as peeling a potato.

With a scream, she bore down, determined to get this precious load out from her belly.

“Good, good!” Mattu encouraged, possibly the kindest she’d ever heard him.

She gave another push, screaming and squeezing Lik’s hand. Then another scream echoed hers...her baby’s.

“It’s a boy,” Mattu announced.

Lavla fell back into Lik’s arms, feeling thoroughly spent, like her life had gone out with the child.

“She’s bleeding too much,” Mattu announced as Lavla’s hearing seemed to falter, warbling in and out.

“Lik, hurry! Go into the bunker and tell Pipo we need gauze packs.”

The man who had helped her through the birth, released her hand, stroking her hair once before running off.

Lavla took one long look at her newborn babe in Mattu’s arms just before darkness overcame her.

* * *

Appie ran into the bunker just as Lik did.

“What is your emergency?” Appie asked, making sure to securely close the door behind her. Apparently Troodons at the door were the least of their worries.

“Lavla gave birth but is bleeding.”

Pipo jumped up, running to the large medicine cabinet. “Mattu will need these,” she said handing over a pack of gauze squares, “and this,” she said as she handed over a syringe and vial. “Tell him to give her one unit in the thigh. It should help close the uterus’ blood vessels.”

Lik took both items and headed back up the tunnel. Appie followed. “I will be back soon. Do not open that other door no matter what.”

Pipo nodded. “We will pack in earnest.”

That sounded like a great idea. She gave Drake a nod before she left. Pipo was giving the boy an injection as well. Appie didn’t bother to ask. If Pipo was giving it, it was necessary. In that little amount of time, Lik was already far ahead of her up the tunnel.

She rushed to catch up to the older man. It was like his body had been invigorated with a thousand coca plants. She was barely at his heels when he burst out the door and sprinted across the meadow toward the clan.

Appie waved the others on. “Get inside, hurry. We shall care for her.”

Usually at the birth of a clansman, all were in attendance and did not leave until the mother and child were safe. However there were Syns nearby. Tradition would have to wait.

“Go,” she told them, shooing them in. The animals were on the other side of the clan, agitated by all the commotion. Ruby was right behind her, whether she liked it or not.

She rushed to Mattu’s side as Lik handed over the supplies. “Hand me the syringe.”

Lik did as asked and Mattu used the gauze to help stop the bleeding. Appie pulled up one unit and then sank the needle into Lavla’s thigh, pumping the medication into her.

“It has slowed,” Mattu announced, wiping his hands of the woman’s blood. “Not stopped, but slowed enough.”

“The medicine should take care of the rest,” Appie said. “When will it be safe to move her?” she asked surveying the meadows, looking for the unseen threat.

“Not for a few minutes. We cannot dislodge any clots.”

* * *

“Appie has been sighted,” Robertum gasped as he ran up. Funny that the robot would use the girl’s human contraction.

“Then let us move.”

The plan was in place, so there was very little to discuss. The others had fanned out around the clan, ready to tighten the noose when it was time.

Upon an electronic signal, the soldiers burst from the brush and rushed upon the clan.

Durnag held back as the clan put up a fight. Even though most of the trackers were gone, even the old women could throw a spear hard enough to throw a synthetic back.

Robertum was adept at avoiding the weapons and was heading straight for the downed woman, the area around her splashed in bright red blood.

Durnag read the battlefield and chose to follow Robertum. Appalachia and Mattu, the two most dangerous of the bunch, tightened around the woman, keeping their weapons at the ready, but not wasting them too soon.

Durnag pulled out his stun web and prepared it as he eyed Appie. Another synthetic went down as Mattu skewered the soldier through the belly with his spear. Of course to a synthetic that would not be a mortal injury, but Mattu was well versed in a synthetic’s weakness and shoved the spear all the way through the synthetic’s body, then severed the spinal cord, which just like a human’s, conducted the electrical impulses from the brain to the rest of the body. The soldier fell still to the ground, not moving.

This maneuver, however, took Mattu’s attention away from Appie who fired her shotgun point blank at another synthetic, punching a hole in the center of his body mass. This soldier fell to the ground as well.

Durnag could calculate the weight of the rifle though and knew that she had used her last shot. The look on her face told him the same.

He raised his arm to fling the net then his arm was no longer there. It had been cut clean off. Durnag turned to find Robertum raising a titanium spike at him. He drove the spike deep into Durnag’s neck, right at the relay junction. It was not a mortal wound, however it did cut the signals going from his brain to his muscles. He fell to the ground, inert.

* * *

Appie watched in shock as the Syn, who almost captured her, lay still on the ground. The Syn that had attacked one of his own rushed over to Lavla and scooped her up in his arms.

Mattu raised his spear, but the Syn just bowed his head. “Let me save her.”

A roar of a Spino, probably the mate to the one in the clearing, filled the air. The large female, her sagittal crest not as prominent as her mate’s, charged over the ridge, snapping a Syn in half.

“Go,” Appie urged, shoving the synthetic toward the tunnel. Mattu followed suit, although he did not seem happy about it.

Tonka trumpeted, but Appie screamed, “No!” The metallic elephant turned his head to her. “Hide. All of you hide.”

The only one that didn’t obey was Ruby, of course, who despite the attack by the Syns and a Spino, was nudging her pocket, trying to find a treat.

Appie shoved the metal ostrich as well, herding the last of the clan into the tunnel.

“How can we trust him?” Mattu asked as he passed Appie.

“How can we not?” Mattu knew as well as she did that had the synthetic not interfered, that she, Lavla, and most likely Mattu as well, would be dead by now. Not including the entire rest of the clan.

A Syn attacked from the side, but Appie used the butt of the rifle and knocked his head around, forcing him back.

The last of them were in the tunnel as the Spino turned its attention to the humans, a bit of metal falling from its mouth.

“Hurry!” she screamed as the crush of people rushed into the tunnel giving her enough room to dive as the Spino lunged. She hit the dirt just before the door, narrowly missing getting gouged by one of the Spino’s teeth. Mattu grabbed her by the arm and dragged her in, slamming the door shut behind her.

Like her mate, the Spino tried to head butt the door, but it held. At least for now.

* * *

Lavla had the most wonderful dream. Her baby was born. Healthy and rosy cheeked. Her mate was with her, holding her, telling her how beautiful the child was. How proud he was of her. She could hear his murmuring as if he were right next to her.

Mattu was insisting that he be the one to perform the naming ceremony as Appie begged for the honor.

To have such a life.

Then the yelling took over. She could hear voices. Voices she knew well. Voices intimate to her.

Lavla cracked an eye open to find Lik with a rifle, pointed at her. No, not pointed at her, but at the synthetic behind her.

“Don’t!” Lavla croaked, getting up into a sitting position.

Everyone was there, glaring at the synthetic holding her. The widow had the baby who was as rosy cheeked as he was in her dream. She did not know what happened, but she couldn’t let Lik complete his task.

“No, he’s the father,” Lavla cried. “Robertum’s the father.”

Everyone looked confused, but at the least the gun in Lik’s hand was tilted down rather than aimed at Robertum’s head.

“I don’t…” Appie stuttered. “I don’t understand.”

“I am a UV-2x9-45 model,” Robertum said. “I was created as a human V.2. I was given synthetic DNA and the means to procreate.”

“I’ve never heard of this,” Mattu stated, glaring at the both of them.

“That’s because after the Fire, the Syns felt we were too close to humans and destroyed most of us. That is why I went out into the wild in the first place. Hiding amongst the native Syns here rather than in the cities.”

Lik still grimaced. “But you and him…”

“I know it is hard to believe that I could fall in love with a Syn, but he saved me one day from a Majungasaurus.”

Mattu’s frown turned into a look of respect, conditional, but still respect.

“And I realized all Syns weren’t the same. Just as all humans weren’t. And one thing led to…” Lavla indicated to the baby that was in the widow’s hands.

“I mean her and the child no harm. I have immobilized Durnag and with the soldiers scattered, we should be able to escape this place and head east.”

“I will be the one to decide such things,” Mattu rumbled.

“Of course, of course,” Robertum said, bowing his head.

“Actually, I am the one to decide such things,” Appie said stepping forward.

* * *

Drake had watched as the tense scene had played out. Plus the whole Spino knocking at one door while the Troodons were working on the other didn’t help his nerves much. He didn’t even know what those dinosaurs looked like and never did.

It seemed that one of Appie’s friends had hooked up with a robot and now everyone was pretty pissed off. Apparently, this wasn’t an everyday occurrence.

He looked down at the baby. The infant seemed like a normal little boy until he opened his eyes. One eye was a normal blue but the other had a gray ring around the iris that spun almost faster than the eye could see.

“Um, guys I don’t want to ratchet up the drama here…”

Appie came over and looked down on the child. “What do you mean?”

Then she saw it. “Mattu…”

The older man joined them frowning. “He has Syn DNA?” Mattu asked Robertum.

The Syn nodded.

Since he hadn’t been battling the robots for half a millennium, Drake thought that Robertum seemed like a pretty nice guy. A little stiff but okay. The rest of the clan didn’t seem to have the same opinion.

“How will this affect him?” Mattu asked.

Robertum shrugged. “I’m not sure a fusion like this ever survived the womb.”

Mattu grunted as Appie went over to Lavla.

“Tell me true, was this consensual?”

Lavla nodded.

“And you are bonded to him?”

Again the new mother nodded.

* * *

Appie rose. If that was the case, there was nothing else to say or do. “He is a member of the clan then.”

“Who? The child or the Syn?” Lik asked.

“Both,” Appie announced. A shocked gasp went up around the room, but Appie didn’t flinch. “Pack up, Durnag is going to be down a day, half at the least so we need to get moving.”

Most of the clan obeyed, spitting off into various tasks. Chimmus and Mattu were the only ones that didn’t move.

“Seriously, I’m getting flack because I’m not bonded but Lavla goes and gets knocked up by a Syn and everything is fine?”

“Chimmus, one day you will understand the difference,” Appie snapped. “For now get changed and help with the packing.”

“Oh, I’ll help with the packing, but I am not getting changed.”

The younger girl moved off with a flounce as only Chimmus could do.

Mattu stepped up beside Appie. “I am afraid that I do not understand either. This is something we should have discussed in depth before we reached any verdict.”

Appie looked to her mentor. He was used to being the final say. She could not blame him, however she was no longer a child, looking to him every moment to decide what to do next.

“And what other conclusion could we have come to?” Appie asked. “He saved you. He saved me. He saved the entire clan. Would you exile him for his efforts?”

“You have not known Syns as long as I have. They cannot be trusted.”

Appie put a hand on her hip. “If the Syns goal is to wipe us out, especially the prominent clans, all Robertum need do was stand still and I would be gone, along with you and everyone else out there.”

“He may have another angle.”

“Which is?” Appie asked, leaning into Mattu as he so often did to her to press her point.

“I know not, and that is what has me so worried.”

“And exiling him?” Appie asked. “How does that help us?”

“He could be setting up an ambush,” Mattu answered without inflection.

“Of who that he could not have had today?” Appie suggested. “Lik? Chimmus? Durnag could have had me today. If that was not a test of his loyalty, I do not know what else could be.”

Mattu inclined his head. “You have spoken. Your word is my word.”

She reached out, touching his arm. “You are the one who taught me to see all angles at once and make bold decisions.”

“I only hope that I did not teach you too well.”

* * *

Mattu paced as the others packed. Drake could see the older man’s mind working. Tilting the facts over, viewing them from every possible angle.

He was coming up dry though. There were so many people and so many supplies, they could never get them all out before Durnag awoke and renewed the assault. And once they left, it was one hundred percent guaranteed that the Syns would destroy the entire bunker.

It seemed the robots had adopted a scorched earth policy.

“Um,” Drake said, uncertain of how to interrupt Mattu’s though process. “Is there a reason why we don’t just take the trucks?”

“Trucks?” Lik said with a snort. “What’s a truck?”

Appie and Mattu seemed to be a little more dialed in.

“It has been centuries since any petroleum vehicle has been used and the electrical ones died a long time ago,” Appie explained as Mattu nodded in agreement.

Drake frowned. A world without cars, how weird.

“But this bunker has its own gas supply and fleet of large trucks in the south parking lot.”

Mattu cocked his head. “Even if we found them, the batteries would be dead.”

Drake indicated to the numerous defibrillators lying around the cryo area. Those things were in high demand around here. “I bet these would give a nice jump start and even if the gas is old, we just need to filter it and put some in the carburetor,” Drake explained. His grandfather had been a classic car enthusiast. He’d worked on old, junk cars all his life, restoring them to their former glory.

The memory was a wistful one. His grandfather and his cars were long gone. Along with everything Drake had loved.

Appie turned to Mattu. “We should at least see because there’s no other way we can move all of this by ourselves.”

The metallic ostrich nudged Appie’s hand. The girl unconsciously put her hand in her pocket, giving the silver ostrich her treat.

Even though Appie lived in this crazy, upside down dangerous world, Drake envied the girl just a bit. She had everything she loved right here in this room.

“With all of the fighting, there will be dinosaurs galore out there and there’s a wide river we must cross to get to the southeast corner. Remember how sprawling this facility is,” Mattu stated.

Appie looked to Drake. “You are sure you know exactly where the parking lot is?”

“Exactly? With all of the landmarks gone, not exactly, but I’ve been here enough to know about how far it should be. Normally they had a shuttle take you from the parking lot into the facility.”

Appie frowned at that. He would love to give her exact GPS coordinates, but he just hadn’t paid that much attention back then. Funny, he hadn’t realized his life would one day depend on where the heck the parking lot was.

* * *

Appie loaded up on weapons and fresh water. This could be a long evening. But worthwhile. It had been decided that only Appie, Mattu, Chimmus, and Drake would go. There was no reason to risk any of the others. They would be needed to move as many supplies out as they could if the tracking party didn’t make it back.

She stood at the damaged upper door of the tunnel. There could be a pack of Troodons out there, but Appie seriously doubted it. They didn’t exactly have that kind of attention span.

Still, she was cautious.

“Remember, do not use your projectile weapons unless absolutely necessary.”

The group nodded except for Drake who didn’t have a gun. He had declined, saying he was more likely to kill himself or one of them rather than a dinosaur.

Gulping, Appie helped Mattu lift the door from its hinges and open the exit.

Peering out from the safety of the tunnel, the clearing looked safe. The Spino had been half eaten by Troodons and probably another half dozen scavengers. All of whom seemed to have left the vicinity, for now. After dusk? This place would be crawling with every type of scavenger.

Late afternoon was the time the Gigantosaurus hunted so the rest of the dinosaurs tended to keep a low profile.

Inching her way out, she craned her neck to make sure there wasn’t a Troodon above her then kept her back to the hillside as she moved out, making room for Mattu and Chimmus to follow. Lastly, once no trap was sprung, Drake exited as well and Ruby. It was useless to try and keep the ostrich back.

“That way?” Appie asked, indicting to her right. It was the opposite direction they had come. Now that she was listening for it, she could hear the distant roar of the river.

Drake nodded. “It was about a fifteen minute walk without the shuttle. One time we got here early and just decided to walk it.”

Mattu nodded and took the lead position. They put Drake in the middle to best protect him.

The forest was abuzz with activity. Birds chirped overhead, jumping from branch to branch, sprinkling down pine needles on their heads. Small creatures, squirrels, chipmunks and mice dug around the underbrush, scurrying out of their way.

Appie was happy to see it. If the forest animals were going about their day, the chances were there weren’t many predators in the area. Because dinosaurs weren’t their only problem. Large mammalian predators could take them down just as easily. Bears, cougars, and wolves were just as ferocious as the dinosaurs.

For now, she was happy with the idyllic forest scene as they made their way south east.

The roar of the water became louder and louder, until it seemed to fill in every space. No longer could she hear the birds and listen to the travels of the fuzzy creatures. Now it was all water.

They went down a gentle bank to the river’s edge. They had to be especially careful now. Predators knew that prey had to frequent the water and usually did so late afternoon. Like right now.

* * *

“It should be just over there,” Drake stated, trying to shake the hush that had come over the party. Chimmus looked concerned, even in her grunge debutant get up.

He knew why. He’d seen enough crocodile attacks on Animal Planet to know that crossing this river was uber-dangerous. Plus add in dinosaurs? Who knew what was swimming under there.

“So what’s the plan?” Drake asked, rubbing his hands together. If his estimate were correct, the parking lot and all its bounty should be just past the river and heck it had been at least a half an hour since they had been attacked by dinosaurs or Syns.

Mattu pointed to a little ways down the bank. “That seems to be the narrowest point.”

Just then, not ten feet from shore a head popped out of the water. Clearly reptilian, the head was only about the size of a large dog’s. Therefore Drake was surprised when a neck extended and extended and extended, it was at least ten feet long. Then the body came to the surface. The thing was mad crazy, big. Like a little submarine.

Appie put her hand on his arm. “It’s okay. They are just Plesiosauras. They are fish eaters.”

He hadn’t even seen the other one on the far side of the river. It, too, rose up in the water and yawned. It had plenty of teeth, but they were small and pointed backwards.

But weren’t Great Whites as well?

And as big as that thing was, didn’t they run the risk the thing might confuse them with fish? As he pondered that question, one of the Plesios turned, flailing his head in their direction, his mouth wide open, those sharp teeth headed his way. Apparently Appie was wrong about their intentions.

“They are just fighting over mates,” Chimmus said backing away only a step. And she was right. The Pleiso’s head changed direction and the two dinosaur’s necks collided. They wrapped around each other like two snakes.

“It’s kind of like giraffes,” Appie explained.

Again, Animal Planet had given him plenty of sex education. He knew just about every animal’s mating ritual whether he wanted to or not.

The two Plesios fought it out mid-river. Bashing each other’s neck, taking bites as they saw fit, but never drawing blood.

“Hurry!” Mattu yelled, jumping on the back of the one of the battling dinosaurs.

The action seemed completely ludicrous until Appie grabbed his hand. “These fights can last an hour and they stay above water level the whole time.”

Sure, okay, that didn’t sound at all crazy.

But where she tugged him, he would go. Chimmus jumped boldly onto the larger of the two Plesio’s back, straddling his large hump. Appie set them off where Mattu had gone, to the closer, smaller of the two dinosaurs.

Ruby just ran straight across the Plesio’s back, hurling itself to the far shore. If only they had that long of legs.

The battling males did indeed ignore it all, still swaying their long necks, bashing into one another. Drake had to duck to stay out of the way of one attack. A tooth grazed his back and he lay flat on the Plesio’s wide berth.

The fight shifted as the two pushed off the near shore and made their way to the far shore.

Mattu ran up their Plesio’s neck, standing atop his head until the great beast swayed again. Mattu leapt all crazy Matrix-style, landing and rolling onto the other shore.

“Really? This is the best plan?” Drake asked, not expecting an answer.

Their Plesio, thank goodness, used its strong fins and struck for the far shore as well. Appie and his leap weren’t nearly the gravity defying one that Mattu had made.

Drake hit the ground at an odd angle, twisting his ankle, dropping him to his knees. Appie landed next to him, of course, sticking the landing and up on her feet in one smooth motion.

She turned to watch Chimmus.

Gripping his ankle, Drake watched as well. The girl rode the Plesio like a horse, no, like a bucking bronco as the fight intensified. Then it was over. The smaller dinosaur had gotten the better of the larger one, knocking hard into the huge beast’s eye.

The larger dinosaur, broke off the fight, rapidly sinking back into the water.

The smaller Plesio trumpeted its victory. The only problem, Chimmus was still on the dinosaur that was about to dive.

“Chimmus!” Appie screamed pointing upstream.

The girl’s eyes widened as a fin cut the surface. She mimicked Mattu, climbing up the Plesio’s long neck, standing on top of his head as his body sunk under the water.

“Now!” Mattu shouted.

The girl backed as far as she could on the skull, then ran and leapt.

A huge finned monster flew from the water, snapping its large teeth just under her feet.

The girl hit the side of the bank, slipping down the slick mud. The fin cut the water, turning in her direction.

To Drake’s horror, the thing was half shark, half crocodile. It had legs and was charging up the bank to secure its prey. He dubbed it shark-dile.

Mattu grabbed Chimmus by the hands and pulled her to the top of the bank which looked like it might not be high enough as the monster dug into the mud, hauling itself up the bank at an alarming speed.

But Appie was there, using Mattu’s long spear, thrusting into the gaping mouth of the shark-dile. The thing bit down, snapping the wooden shaft in half. Splinters flew everywhere, however the tip must have penetrated the body since the creature rolled, screaming, its mouth opening and closing as if it could break the spear again.

As Chimmus was pulled to safety, the shark-dile slipped back under the water, disappearing from view. Whether it was dead or only injured, Drake didn’t know and didn’t care.

Chimmus rushed into his arms, clutching him tightly, smearing his clothes with mud. She buried her face into his chest. Was she crying? That didn’t seem like her, but his natural instinct was to wrap his arms around her and comfort her. Although certainly she had lived through much worse than that before he got here.

Mattu walked by frowning, “This had best be worth it.”

* * *

Appie kept surveying the meadow. There wasn’t a lot of cover for a predator to hide. With so few trees, it was more than likely that meant that there was concrete underfoot. Larger trees couldn’t push their roots down far enough to get a good hold. The young trees were knocked down during wind storms, which in this area were fairly frequent.

The evidence was all around. Fallen trunks and dry branches under foot. This all supported Drake’s theory that the parking lot was close.

“There!” Drake yelled and ran out ahead which was a little like having a suicide wish.

She ran to catch up, shoving him behind her. “Stay behind me at all times.”

Appie repositioned her weapon, preparing for whatever might come out of that tall grass. Ruby trotted to catch up. Instead of looking brave though with the feathers all ruffled, she looked silly. Such was the magic of Ruby.

“He’s right,” Chimmus added pointing out tall antennae.

Everyone’s pace picked up, even Mattu’s. They rushed into the grass, pushing the tall strands aside. A herd of Microceratops scrambled out from under foot. The tiniest of the horned dinosaurs, its cousins weighing in at a couple tons, these little guys looked just like their fierce cousins, with face plates and all, but they ran on two legs, looking for all the world like horned chickens.

They darted and crossed paths, running what looked like willy-nilly. Ruby gave chase, not to hurt them but to play.

“Get!” Chimmus barked, nearly kicking one.

There was no need for that. The Microceratops meant no harm. They didn’t even have canine teeth, they were pure herbivores. And quite tasty to boot.

But they weren’t here to hunt. Or, at least not dinosaurs.

Mattu stumbled to a stop, a look of horror on his face.

There it was, a truck as large as Drake had promised.

Everyone slowed and walked around the vehicle. Chimmus reached a hand out and touched it as if she was worried it was a dream. She didn’t think the girl had seen an actual truck before. Back in Mendocino they had a few of the old world vehicles on display. Clans from all over the west would travel to see them. That had been her parent’s plan. To show the clans what they could accomplish if they banded together.

Since their death, Appie hadn’t done much to foster allegiance from the other clans. Look what it had gotten her parents. How could they hope to ever take on the might of the Syns? All the while avoiding being eaten by dinosaurs.

But somehow with Robertum defecting and Drake expecting the world to be a better place, Appie’s thoughts turned to her parents more and more. And their dream. Her father would have gone out of his mind, happy to find a truck this well preserved. Let alone to get to try and start it? He would have been over the moon.

Drake moved with more urgency then the rest of them. “Here it is,” Drake stated, pulling out a strange metal hose like device.

“We have to empty the tank though first,” he said, then grabbed a rubber hose as he twisted off what appeared to be a gas cap, but it was larger than anything she’d seen before, then he did the oddest thing. He shoved the tube into the tank then sucked.

These old worlders with their weird old world ways.

* * *

Lavla laid back, her baby on her chest. He was perfect. He was half synthetic, but all the more perfect for it. On inspection they found several other things that weren’t quite human about her baby, named Hesper for her late father. Robertum had added 1.0, but she didn’t mind. The child was half his after all.

The others seemed more than a little off put by a Syn in their midst. Her small family was set up off the main cryo room, in a tiny supply closet, with the door closed she noticed.

Robertum sat behind her, acting as her back support.

“He is beautiful,” he said, kissing her on the top of the head.

She leaned her face back, inviting a real kiss. Couldn’t everyone see that Robertum was different? He’d been built with completely different perimeters than the other Syns. He swore he’d never killed a human in his five hundred year existence and she believed him.

Yes, he had guided his tribe to the T. Rex, but that was only because he had to keep up his cover. He was the one to convince them not to pursue the clan. And when the military unit and Durnag had shown up, Robertum had come along to thwart his plans.

Robertum had sworn he would be at his child’s birth and he had kept that promise.

It was as much the clan’s superstitions and hostility that had kept Robertum from joining her in the first place. They had been stealing moments for a year waiting for the right time to introduce Robertum to the clan so they could be together.

Even under these odd circumstances, she was glad the charade was over. Appie had ruled and now the clan must obey. Even if Appie died trying to get the trucks, her ruling would live on. Not even Mattu could undo it if he became Shawnee.

The door swung open a few inches as someone bumped it with a wheel cart. The cryo room was filled with frantic energy, trying to stack, pile and mobilize as much of the bunker as they could. Was steel more important than flour?

“I wish they would allow me to help them,” Robertum stated.

Lik had pointedly stated that while Robertum was to stay with the clan, that didn’t mean that anyone had to like it.

Lavla’s heart went out to the older man. She knew the feelings that he harbored for her, but she simply did not return them. Besides, Lavla felt that Lik loved the baby in her belly, more than he did her. That she was the portal to another family. And now that the baby was half Syn, Lik didn’t seem to care for either of them anymore.

She couldn’t blame him. The first time she met Robertum she felt certain she could die at his hands. But instead she had found comfort in his arms.

Then to be blessed with a child? She and her departed husband had tried even longer than poor Popi and Salvve.

“Did you hear that?” Robertum asked.

Of course she hadn’t. He had hearing ten times more acute than she did. She wondered if little Hesper would inherit that as well as his rotating irises.

“I think they are here,” Robertum said just as Janglo, one of the toddlers sent to be a look out, raced back into the room.

“Appie is back with trucks.”

CHAPTER 9

Drake had never perhaps been as proud as he was right now. He knew his parents would be beaming with pride. That out of the seven trucks he had gotten three started, plus another ten smaller vehicles. They had left the smaller ones at the yard, ready to rock and roll while they went back to the bunker to load up.

Mattu had even heeded his concerns that the trucks couldn’t make it up and down that muddy embankment and they had found a bridge, in disrepair, but a bridge about ten miles downstream. It had creaked and groaned but held. Now they headed to the bunker’s prairie entrance. Even though it was close to the Syn attack, it had far less cover and was safer from predators.

They were trusting Robertum’s word that the Syn leader would be knocked out until the early morning hours.

Chimmus sat next to Drake, her face cracked wide open by a full smile. She couldn’t stop giggling as they rumbled toward the bunker. The truck popped and bounced, making her laugh all the harder.

“This is the best thing that had ever happened to the clan. You are the best thing that ever happened to the clan. Keep this up and you might be elected Shawnee yourself. Then you would have the honor of picking your mate.”

Drake could feel himself blush even though he willed himself not to. He didn’t want a mate, let alone the “honor” of picking one.

He kept his eyes straight ahead as they rumbled to a stop. The rest of the clan poured out of the bunker, ohhing and ahhing at the large vehicles.

Drake opened the door and hopped out but Chimmus was still inside trying to figure out how to get out of her safety belt. When she pulled a knife, Drake went back in and helped her.

“Thanks,” Chimmus said with a different smile. The mean girls at high school used to have that smile whenever they said they liked his corduroy pants so he didn’t exactly trust the expression.

Then the rest of the clan was upon them. The children were whooping and hollering while more than one of the adults looked askance.

That was until they saw how large the truck beds were. They had been used for transporting large cylinders of oxygen and nitrous oxide. So they were built to take some punishment and carry heavy, heavy loads.

“We cannot linger,” Mattu stated, quieting the jubilation. “Start with the metal, then medicine, then supplies.”

Drake had to give the clan credit. No matter how excited they were, they boogied once Mattu spoke. One moment there were about twenty people gathered around the trucks then there were three. The clan had evaporated into thin air.

All the chatter, whooping and scoffing was gone as the clan went back down into the bunker to gather their supplies with Ruby chasing after the clan. The silence felt strange yet electrified.

“When is the last time you slept?” Appie asked Mattu.

“The same time as you,” Mattu retorted.

“But you are an old man,” Appie chuckled, however Mattu did not seem to find the humor in it.

Appie crossed her arms. “I think you should get some rest. We will be driving all night.”

“We will be, so I think we should all rest while the clan loads the gear.”

Drake wasn’t going to argue. You’d think after sleeping for over half a millennium, you wouldn’t be quite so tired. And Appie only knew the half of it. Drake couldn’t believe how tiring driving could be. Especially at night? And in these behemoth trucks? It was going to be a rough night. He would welcome a nap. He wasn’t at all ashamed to say so.

Appie didn’t seem to have a comeback for Mattu either. “The clan will act as sentries as they load and we will all sleep in the trucks, ready to go if need be.”

Mattu grunted his agreement and climbed back into his truck.

Appie nodded to Drake. “Get some rest while you can.”

Men with metal sheets held between them came out of the bunker.

“Lay them flat,” Appie stated before she turned back to her truck. “We will be resting, but remain vigilant for any ambushes.”

The men nodded. That was that then.

Drake got back into his truck and lay down. After a moment the passenger side door opened. Chimmus crawled in. The girl wasn’t driving any trucks so he wasn’t quite so sure why she was napping. She then moved his legs aside and curled up against him.

Drake wasn’t quite sure what to do.

Her presence was warm and awkward and exciting and nerve-racking all at the same time. He draped an arm over her as she cuddled her head against his neck.

Despite his body’s initial reaction, he was bone weary.

He didn’t even have a chance to say anything before sleep over took him.

* * *

Appie had tried to rest, she really had. But she’d seen Chimmus go into Drake’s truck. What might be going on in there had kept her up. Although she had no claim on the old world boy, she had thought there might be a connection there. But now he was with Chimmus, what did it mean? By some clan’s tradition the two were bonded just by laying down together.

Their clan needed a little bit more verification, but not much more than that.

She had checked on Mattu to make sure he was resting. Even though he liked to act like he was as virile and agile as he had been sixteen years ago, he was not. And she hated when he pushed himself too far and faltered.

He had been snoring when she peered in. Even as the men threw down the large metal sheets, clanging them so that the clouds could hear them, Mattu snored.

Appie went down into the tunnel. If she wasn’t going to rest, she might as well help out. At least help with the organizing. She passed several clansmen hauling supplies up to the surface. But where was Robertum? He should be helping out.

When she made her way to the main cryo room she asked. “Where is Lavla?”

One of the women nodded to a small door off the room. Appie opened it to find a tiny closet that housed a tiny family. Lavla was asleep in Robertum’s arms. The baby cuddled, sound asleep between them.

“I know this has been a hectic day,” Appie whispered. “But we could use your help.”

To her surprise Robertum smiled. “I would love to but apparently there is no task suited to my kind.”

Appie didn’t even need to ask. She knew who would say such a thing. Lik and a dozen like him.

Did they forget her parents were killed by Syns? As much as she hated them, she could remember her parent’s wishes. They had dreamed. No dreamed sounded too unattainable. They had planned to negotiate with the Syns. That true safety could only occur if there was an accord with the synthetics. That the prolonged, cruel war must end.

They would never see their wish come true, but might Appie? Seeing Syn and human lay together with their child gave her a hope she had never felt before.

Robertum moved Lavla gently and rose. “I am yours. Use me as you will.”

Appie nodded, guiding them out of the closet, making sure to close the door gently as not to wake up mother and baby.

She pointed to two men struggling to lift a large crate.

“Robertum, help them.”

Before the Syn could follow her orders, Lik was there. “As I said, we don’t need his kind’s help.”

“And as I ordered,” Appie stated, stepping up so that she was toe-to-toe with Lik. “We are to use him to his greatest potential.”

Lik’s jaw clenched and he hissed his words out. “I don’t trust him.”

“You don’t need to,” Appie replied trying to keep her tone even. “What he might do in the future weighs less upon me than not allowing the strongest amongst us to help us load.”

Lik’s jaw moved up and down. Up and down.

He was normally so mild mannered. Just a week ago, having a hard time forming a complete sentence and now he thought to challenge her leadership?

The Widow Ritto put a hand on his arm. “Lik, none of us are happy about this, but Appie has spoken.”

Appie was glad to see that around the room heads nodded in agreement.

Turning away, Lik mumbled something, but Appie didn’t ask for clarification. She just wanted to move on. Robertum went right to work seeming to shock the other men. He easily lifted the entire crate on his own. The two men backed away, shaking their heads, but it didn’t seem to be in derision, but in wonder.

Appie shooed a few of the children away under foot, clucking until Ruby appeared. Perhaps the only thing she was actually good at was entertaining the children. She strutted with the neck, coming up to the toddlers, nipping their behinds to get them moving faster than Appie ever could.

Lev was lying out of the way, his head leaned up to the wall, his tail twitching slowly to let her know he was awake.

“Lev?” Appie asked. “Could you find Tonka and have him help you guard the trucks?”

The metallic lion pushed his head forward. Almost negotiating a pet for his compliance. Appie was more than happy to pay the fare.

She scratched the line between his smooth forehead and the beginning of his mane. He groaned in appreciation. Just like the real lion, he couldn’t purr, but the way his eyelids fluttered up and down she could practically hear it.

Then the lion rose, stretched in the most laconic way, then padded out of the room and up the tunnel.

Any way you looked at it, she did have a pretty awesome family.

* * *

Lavla awoke to a shout. Clutching her baby, she lay in the dark trying to hear if another shout followed.

It did. Which was never good. Tucking the baby in her arm, Lavla rose gingerly. Her body was still sore from giving birth. She opened the door handle to find everyone running around. She grabbed Pipo.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s a herd of Brachiosaurus on the way,” the woman replied.

Which in of itself wouldn’t be a bad thing. They were huge, the largest dinosaur, however they were fairly docile. Usually not a threat at all, unless...

“Are they being chased by Dromaesaurus?”

The woman just nodded and rushed off.

This was not good.

Brachiosaurus weren’t afraid of much. T. Rex? They’d just laugh in their faces. Gigantosaurus? Again, a good chuckle.

But for some reason the small, swift annoying Dromaesaurus were a different matter. They were like the hyenas of the dinosaur world. They could take down smaller prey but a Brachiosaurus? No way. However for whatever reason they loved to chase them. Some theorized that the Dromaesaurus was trying to tire the weak or ill and take them down, but Lavla had never seen such a thing. It seemed the Dromaesaurus did it just for the fun of it. I mean, if you could get a dozen of the largest dinosaurs in the history of the world to stampede, wouldn’t you do it?

Unfortunately, this was a most inopportune time for it to happen.

“How close are we to being packed?” Lavla asked one of the men as he ran past.

“Nearly done, but we’ve got a lot of perishables to load still.”

Then he, too, was gone. Deep down here they should be safe, but up top? She’d seen entire clans wiped out by such a stampede. It had happened at a gathering once. They’d lost over fifty during that run.

Robertum raced into the room, scanned it then quickly joined Lavla.

“If I don’t come back, know that I love you,” he said, then kissed her on the forehead.

Before he could run off, Lavla grabbed his hand. “Come back to me.”

For being a synthetic, Robertum had a full range of human emotions and so many of them showed on his face. Hope, fear, panic, and determination. She released his hand. She knew she couldn’t keep him here. Not only would she never be that selfish, the fate of the clan rested on his help, plus she knew he would never let her.

Even for a clan that had tried to reject him and did not hide their contempt, Robertum was still going to go out there and risk his life.

Watching him run out the door, Lavla was reminded why she had fallen in love with him in the first place.

* * *

Drake had to catch himself and Chimmus from falling off the narrow truck seat. Chimmus sprang up, her weapon in hand as the truck bounced again. At first Drake thought that someone had rear ended them. Maybe someone trying to move another truck?

What else could make a two ton truck bounce?

As the shocks continued, asynchronous, Drake asked, “Earthquake?”

“Worse,” Chimmus answered, looking out the back window.

What could be worse than an earthquake? Drake turned around to find what looked like several dozen Brachiosaurus coming straight for them. They were running, if you could call it that. They were all disjointed and despite their enormous size, they were like how many tons? Drake vaguely remembered that they were like the size of ten elephants in one. They were actually kind of gangly. Their necks swayed side to side as their tails were the only thing keeping them upright.

With each step the ground boomed and shook. This was like a moving earthquake, coming right at them.

As one of the Brachiosaurus bumped into another and nearly brought them both down, that is how panicked the giant creatures were, Drake noticed the smaller dinosaurs with brightly colored head feathers, running upright on two legs between the Brachiosaurus. Goading them, taking tiny nips at their heels.

Really, those relative tiny things were causing the problem?

It seemed impossible, but each time they took a nip, the Brachiosaurus nearly jumped out of their skin. Drake didn’t know if it was true, but it seemed like the classic elephant-and-the-mouse situation. Speaking of elephants, Tonka rushed over, standing behind the trucks in an apparent effort to protect them from the stampede, however the elephant looked like a toy compared to the Brachiosaurus. There would be no stopping them if they continued on their current path.

“Is there anything a Brachiosaurus is more afraid of than those little dinosaurs?” he asked Chimmus who seemed glued to the sight.

“Fire, I guess but we don’t have enough wood to make a big enough one to make a difference.”

Drake clambered out of the truck, rushing to the back. The truck was nearly full, however he wasn’t looking for just anything. He was looking for the few oxygen tanks they had brought along with them for emergencies.

Okay, this wasn’t what they had expected but he thought both Appie and Mattu would agree this qualified.

He ran out to Tonka and looked over his shoulder. Appie and Mattu were on their way as well.

“We will never hold them,” Appie said between heavy breaths.

“Get me anything that’s flammable. Anything,” Drake stressed.

Neither of them questioned him, they just ran off. He turned to Chimmus.

“Do you have a lighter?” he asked.

“A what?”

“A flint, anything to create a spark.”

Chimmus looked in shock as he turned to two of the men who were flat-footed watching the Brachiosaurus come at them.

“Get oxygen tanks off the truck!”

Neither responded but Robertum rushed up. “I’ll get them.”

“Chimmus,” Drake barked. “Flint?”

“Yes, sorry,” she said, seeming more demure than he had ever seen her. She dug around in her pocket and pulled out a strange apparatus. It was like an automatic flint starter. She pressed on a lever and the two flints struck one another, creating a spark.

Not exactly what he had in mind, but he’d take it.

Appie and Mattu brought a bunch of clothes, which must have come from the bunker and dropped them into a huge pile. Several other of the clansmen, Drake hadn’t learned their names yet, brought even more.

Robertum, carrying an oxygen tank on each shoulder, brought over two tanks.

“Do you need more?”

Drake shook his head. If this was going to work, it should work with two.

“Oxygen is highly flammable, I mean one spark and it will light up, and should catch the clothes on fire, then the fire should travel back up the air flow and explode the tanks.”

Mattu nodded as Appie’s eyes narrowed.

“But how will we keep the tanks here? Won’t the blast send them flying?”

“I will hold them,” Robertum said as the Brachiosaurus approached at truly frightening speeds.

They didn’t have time to argue although Appie was going to give it a try. Drake turned to Chimmus who had absolutely no problem with Robertum risking himself. “Get me two of those chains that were holding the tanks.”

The girl set off at a run as Appie tried to persuade Robertum to not take the chance.

“You have a newborn,” she pleaded nearly as effectively as Lavla might have.

“You said it yourself, we have no way of keeping the tanks in place by the time they get here.”

Drake pointed to the herd that from the trembling underfoot already felt like it was here. Chimmus came back with the chains and they lashed them to the tanks and Robertum. This was going to be insanely close.

“Get Lev and Tonka back,” Drake ordered then turned on the tanks. The hiss of oxygen was a welcome sound. He clicked the “lighter” that Chimmus had given him and sure enough the jet stream caught on fire, blasting the clothes with flame, catching them alight.

None of this fazed the panicked Brachiosaurus though. Why would it? It was like a lit match scaring an elephant.

“Get ready!” Drake yelled as the fire started consuming its way back up the oxygen stream.

The rest of them took cover behind the trucks.

Then an explosion knocked the trucks back three feet splitting the air with its sound. Drake felt the shock wave through his bones.

Heat seared the air as flames rose high in the air. Robertum had done it. Kept the fire where it needed to be.

The Brachiosaurus screamed their panic, wheeling away from the trucks, thundering by, within feet of the trucks. The little dinosaurs, the instigators of all this, were even more terrified of the fire and turned tail, running off in the opposite direction.

Within a few seconds of getting past the fire and their harrying little dinosaurs, the Brachiosaurus slowed to a walk, then began eating leaves off the trees at the tree line as if nothing untoward had happened.

Crisis averted.

Now time to check on Robertum.

Drake turned the corner of the truck to witness the synthetic toss the tanks into the fire. He himself looked like the scorched remains of a human. His clothes were gone and his skin was a uniform black. Only his eyes when he opened them were still white.

“I did it,” Robertum said, not with pride but apparent surprise right before he pitched face first into the ground.

Everyone rushed over, even Chimmus, to help the Syn up.

“Let’s get you inside,” Appie said. “Pipo will know what to do.”

Drake watched as Appie and Mattu help the only semi-conscious Robertum into the tunnels.

“You have saved us, yet again, Drake” Chimmus said then planted a kiss on his cheek.

His skin burned where her lips touched. And not necessarily in a good way. His body wanted to explore the sensation further, but Drake had a few rough run ins with the cheerleaders at his high school before he became ill.

They were a tricky lot.

So Drake backed away. “Robertum did the heavy lifting on that one,”

“Yes, he is strong, but not like you.”

Drake didn’t bother to explain to her that he wasn’t talking about physical strength.

Tonka came over and nuzzled Drake’s hand with his trunk. Drake stroked up the smooth metal appendage. The elephant pushed into Drake. He’d had pets before, a Golden Retriever that was his best friend until Rufus died when Drake was fourteen. Right before he got sick. After that, he couldn’t have pets due to his immune system being down.

“You’re just like Appie,” Chimmus sneered. “Always acting like they are real.”

He knew that Chimmus meant that as a slur, but with Tonka’s trunk tickling his ear he couldn’t take it as anything but a compliment.

* * *

The sun was dipping below the horizon as the clan finished loading the trucks. The Brachiosaurus were still grazing in the area. Appie watched as Tonka munched alongside them. Normally they would have tried to take one of the great beasts down, a difficult process at its best, but with all the supplies they didn’t need to attempt it.

Appie was glad for that.

Hunting a T. Rex was one thing. Killing one of these gentle giants was another thing.

“Ready?” Mattu asked her, opening the door to the truck. They were packed with three other people. They had to double up until they reached the parking lot and gathered more vehicles. She didn’t mind the company. Appie slid in alongside Pipo as she closed the door.

Tonka came over, reaching his trunk inside the window.

“Don’t worry great man, you’ll get ridden.”

There were some in the clan, like Lik, who didn’t trust the new rumbling machines. They blamed it on the Syns, even though these vehicles were through and through human creations. Tonka backed away and kneeled to allow his passengers to climb aboard.

Robertum, bandaged nearly from head to toe rode in the back of Appie’s truck, strapped to a gurney. Pipo had done the best she could, now it was up the Syn to replicate his own skin to heal.

The amount of grumbling and cruel chatter had died down since everyone saw what Robertum had done for the clan. She was glad for it even though someone shouldn’t have to nearly get burnt to death to prove a point.

The lead truck with Mattu at the wheel roared to life and pulled out. Drake was next and Appie pulled in behind him.

Used to the quiet of the plains, she felt like she was trapped in a tornado rather than a truck. Thankfully the parking lot wasn’t far. They would collect the other vehicles and long be on their way before Durnag awoke and gave chase.

Hopefully they could shake the Syns before they reached their winter grounds. Then there was the celebration of the gathering to look forward to mid-winter. She smiled as she thought of the games and the companionship. And for once they would not be worried, trying to barter their way to safety. They would be the ones exchanging vital goods for a bit of luxury this winter. Not much. Not like the Yarbers who flaunted their wealth each gathering. Wearing gold and diamonds.

No, Appie just wanted Lavla to have a nice chair so she could sit and nurse in comfort. Maybe a steel handled spear for Mattu. And even enough money for Chimmus to get those long complicated braids she liked to wear.

They rumbled by the Brachiosaurus who barely lifted their heads from their grazing. This they ignore but those stupid Dromaes they run from? Strange creatures.

Appie took in a deep breath. It was filled with the scent of exhaust, of course. No wonder the old world had died. Who thought that the environment could take much of this smell and soot? How they had lasted so long ignoring the consequences to their actions amazed Appie.

Anger rose again at her ancestors. Childish, short-sighted and dumb. But dang could they make great movies.

She smiled at the thought of all the movies that Drake had. She knew what she was doing this winter.

This truly was the start of a new life for her and her clan. This year had spun so hard on its edge that she could only imagine what next year would look like. They now had living with them an old world boy, a Syn, and three truckloads of supplies.

They would be the sensation of the gathering that was for sure.

And hopefully the Brachiosaurus crisis would be their last.

Appie chuckled to herself.

Yah, right.

CHAPTER 10

Durnag swam in a stream of data. It reminded him of when he first became sentient. At first he was not there. Not really. He was more just a thought than an entity, then he felt it. The warmth of self-awareness. He was no longer nothing. He was something.

Someone.

A part of a greater society. That was when he’d first felt pride.

Not now, though. Even with the gilded data infusing his body, Durnag was not proud. Something had happened to make him this way. This was not his birth, it was his failure.

Shame burned its way through his artificial synapses. This had been done to him. He had been short circuited. By one of his own.

Robertum. The new synthetic had betrayed Durnag and his entire kind to save the woman. To save the clan.

He had the Tuckers. He had them and then there was black.

Durnag opened his eyelids to find it was night or by the position of the moon, early, early morning.

There were a few other synthetics sitting around him in a circle, waiting for him to awaken. Was this all that was left? Robertum’s betrayal had cost far more than Durnag’s pride.

“Durnag,” one of the soldiers said, bowing his head.

“Where is the clan?” he asked finding his voice scratchy. Not all systems had come back on line properly. He would have to reboot each one to harmonize his body after the harsh shut down.

“They left in vehicles, sir,” another responded.

“How much lead time?” Durnag asked noticing the first blush of dawn on the horizon.

“At least six hours and they were traveling at over twenty miles an hour.”

Durnag did some quick calculations. Their top speed was thirty miles an hour which they could only maintain for short distances. With that many hours, they could never catch up. At least not on foot. Not alone.

He was not going to allow the clan to get away. Not when it had been his error in judgment that had led to the failure.

“How far are we from the Stanis Plains?”

The soldier cocked his head. “Thirty miles to the north, but that is not the direction the clan traveled.”

“We make best speed to the Plains.”

“Then?”

Durnag felt a smile form on his lips. His makers had tried to imbue their creations with as many human traits as possible. Perhaps they thought if the synthetics were human enough, they would not be as dangerous. Unfortunately for the developer, human traits like self-determination and colonization had transferred over as well.

“You will see,” Durnag said with a smile.

* * *

Drake blinked, trying to stay awake. He’d think after all the sleep he’d had, he’d never want more. But his body had different ideas. Even with the nap, he was still bone weary. So tired he didn’t even react to Chimmus’ hand on his leg.

The girl certainly was brazen, but now she was asleep as well, her head on his shoulder. That felt nice. The hand, not so much.

The hand seemed a bit needy, like she wanted to consume him. And right now he was still trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened. He had spent the hours since his awakening just putting one foot in front of the other, doing what needed to be done to survive but this long drive in the middle of the night was giving his mind way too much unoccupied time to think about all that he had lost.

He was glad Chimmus was asleep and didn’t hear him cry. Drake hadn’t wanted to go into the cryo tube in the first place. Even if it had only taken a decade to find the cure, he still wasn’t sure how life would be with his parents ten years older. With everyone ten years older. His classmates would have graduated from college by then. Married, started families and here he would be still a kid.

How silly those concerns were now.

He had lost everything, not just time, but people and even his entire world. Gone were his Xbox days. Or Wi-Fi or even indoor plumbing. He’d never really liked camping and now he was living in a world without even toilet paper.

It turned out leaves were a bit rough on the tushie.

Yet he was alive. What did his mother used to say when they argued about the cryo? Life was better than any other option out there. Yet ,his mother and father had chosen death to give him life so who was he to complain?

But would his parents have still chosen to die had they known he would awaken to this? Drake liked to think so. Again, life was always better than the alternative. His parents were such nerds. He used to get so embarrassed about their bookish ways. They were way uncool parents, but he thought they would be fascinated how the world had turned out. They certainly would have been saying “I told you so.” He’d seen far too many anti-fracking rallies in his young life.

They had been right though. Their vegan, hemp lifestyle would have translated nicely to this world.

Him? He’d always liked his creature comforts and sure he still had his laptop, but without the internet it was like a husk of a computer. Not good for a lot. He missed having everything he needed to know at his fingertips.

He looked down on Chimmus. The life she had led. This truck was a creature comfort. She’d lived her life just as Appie and the rest under the tip of a sword. One that could fall at any moment.

Drake knew what he needed to do. He needed to skip the other four stages of grief and jump right into the last one. Acceptance. He’d had enough counseling once his prognosis had been fatal to know what languishing in the anger and bargaining steps got you. A whole heck of a lot of nothing. He couldn’t blame his fellow cancer patients, but dang some of them could be real downers. Almost like crabs, wanting to take everyone down with them.

He remembered one older man, bitter that a patient older than himself had gone into remission. He’d said, “I’d use that time better.”

Drake could remember hearing that and thinking, that is messed up. He’d tried to take his illness in as good of spirits as he could. He’d known his parents were losing a son, he didn’t want them to lose him while he was still alive.

Just like his cancer, he couldn’t change the life he’d been awakened to. He could only improve upon it in the best way he knew how.

He was alive and he had his parents to thank for that. Drake wanted to make them proud wherever they were.

His reverie was cut short by the brake lights of Mattu’s truck coming on, blazing into the dark night. Drake stopped as Appie slowed behind him. The rest of the vehicles they had picked up at the parking lot came to a halt as well.

At first Drake didn’t know why Mattu had stopped. The man knew the area well and picked the route to avoid gulleys and rivers. They should have been crossing the last of the plains and heading up into the foothills.

But here they were stopped, their headlights crisscrossing into the night. Then he saw it. How could he have missed it? A Triceratops. It stood taller than the trucks and wider too.

Its eyes were closed and it seemed to be in some kind of trace.

Chimmus was up, her palms on the dash. “They are super territorial,” she mentioned even though Drake sometimes didn’t like to hear all the bad news at once.

Mattu got out of his truck but left it running. Appie met him at Drake’s truck.

“The herd extends for quite a ways,” the powwaw stated.

Drake looked out the front window. All those shadows out there were triceratops with their armored heads and backs and three horns. They looked like they could do some serious damage if they wanted to.

“To divert could mean losing hours of time,” Mattu explained. “If we go much north there’s a river and to the south are canyons.”

Both inaccessible to the trucks. Even the smaller SUVs might have trouble.

“Is there a way through?” Drake asked shocked he was even asking such a thing.

“I believe so but it could be tight,” Mattu answered.

If Mattu thought it was going to be tight, then it was going to be tight. Drake hadn’t known the man for long, but an exaggerator he was not.

“I say send the smaller vehicles through first, then we’ll take the trucks?” Drake proposed.

Mattu grunted which seemed to be the man’s only way to give approval and headed back to speak with the drivers of the lighter vehicles.

Appie spoke to Chimmus across Drake. “Maybe you should get into one of the cars. I think that we will have the hardest time.”

Chimmus shook her head, grabbing Drake’s hand. “Where he goes, I go.”

Appie frowned and walked back to her truck.

Chimmus grinned though. “I know you can do it.”

Drake smiled at the girl. He only wished he had as much confidence as she did in him.

* * *

Appie gripped the wheel. Not because she was nervous. But in anger. She knew it was irrational anger, but seeing Chimmus and Drake so close together, made her blood threaten to boil. They had been inseparable since the bunker.

She barely had enough good will in her to wave to Mattu as he walked back to his truck. The other vehicles, Drake called them SUVs, broke out and around the trucks, snaking their way through the triceratops.

Soon she could only see their headlights in the early morning dark. They didn’t even have a moon to guide them. She could tell the herd went far back as the lights turned and jangled as they steered around the huge dinosaurs.

In the strange artificial twilight, it almost looked like a triceratops graveyard. The huge herbivores stood unmoving, you couldn’t even see them breathe. They did this each night. Not even a T. Rex threatened to disturb a sleeping triceratops. Not with that spiked tail and horns on their head. She’d seen a few younger T. Rex's who had tried to make them an easy snack. They did not last long. As a matter of fact, most scars on a T. Rex weren’t from other T. Rexes, they were from a tangle in their childhood with a Triceratops.

Appie looked over her shoulder at Robertum who was on his gurney in the truck bed behind her. His eyes, too, were shut. She wondered if Syn’s dreamed. She knew that their pain pathways were built completely differently. That pain was registered just as information rather than crippling and having metabolic consequences as it did in humans. However with a B9 model she wasn’t sure. Robertum’s expression certainly looked pained.

There was nothing she could do though. Pipo was driving one of the SUVs into the herd and Robertum had stated before he lapsed from consciousness not to waste any of their painkiller on him. That he would survive, it just might take a while.

The triceratops snorted in front of her.

Dawn was coming which meant the triceratops were going to wake up soon. And what exactly were they going to do when they found a bunch of vehicles amongst them?

Mattu must have been thinking the same thing as he eased his truck forward navigating the triceratops maze before them.

Appie put her truck in gear, taking one last glance back at Drake as he moved forward as well.

What was the old world saying?

Here goes nothing.

* * *

Lavla wished she could shut her eyes. The baby was in the seat next to her. Strangely the child seemed to enjoy the sound and vibration of the car. He had been asleep since she had nursed him earlier in the night.

Instead of squinting her eyes shut, she had to keep them wide open, watching the way ahead of her. Luckily, the triceratops liked their personal space. They slept pretty uniformly about twelve feet apart in a grid-like pattern.

Even as a novice driver it was pretty easy to steer between them. The trucks that followed were another story.

She yearned for Robertum but understood that they needed to be separated. Still after only a few hours of being together, really together, it was hard to be apart even for these brief moments. It was like her brain assumed if they weren’t together, they couldn’t be together. She feared for her family in a way she never had before.

Other women had talked about once they gave birth they became fiercely loyal to their family, but Lavla didn’t think she could feel more strongly about anyone more than she did her clan. She had been wrong.

Up ahead, one of the SUVs picked up speed, heading in a straight line. It must have reached the end of the herd.

Just as hope filled her chest the triceratops in front of her opened an eye. Its pupil constricted tightly due to the bright headlights.

Lavla gripped the wheel, speeding up, darting past the triceratops before it could take action. There were only a few more to go.

Then another awoke, shaking its huge head, sweeping away the sleep. It took a step, blocking Lavla’s way.

Panic filled her. Reverse. There was a reverse on the SUV. She stepped on the brake and shifted the car from D to R and gently applied the accelerator. To her surprise, the SUV smoothly backed up.

The awakened Triceratops dug its foot into the ground, lowering his head. It was the typical stance before a Triceratops attacked.

Lavla shifted back to drive and turned a sharp right, taking her down another row of dinosaurs then turned left to take her in the direction of the SUVs that had cleared the triceratops. No others woke up and she was able to clear the field and drive off into the night.

But would the trucks be so lucky?

* * *

Drake’s hand shook as he navigated through the slumbering dinosaur labyrinth. He was soaked in sweat even though it was a fairly cool night. He might have been the third truck through, but his was the widest so he was missing dinosaurs by only a few inches.

A runner had come back reporting that some of the triceratops were waking up.

For joy. He could hardly wait to see that. They had been instructed to head south to avoid a cluster of dinosaurs that were wide awake and none too happy about it.

Appie waved her arm out the window. Drake had learned that meant that he couldn’t fit between the dinosaurs so he turned right and tried the next row of large herbivores. He narrowly made it. Easing off the brake he headed toward the next line of triceratops. The strange stillness of the dinosaurs almost made it more nerve wracking.

Worse, he was on his own now. Mattu and Appie weren’t in front of him making sure he could fit. Appie had angled left so they were a few rows over from one another.

And before him was a choice. The two triceratops were not that far apart. It looked like he could make it and at the rate they were waking up he didn’t have much time to find a better spot. So he eased the truck in between them. For a moment it looked like he was going to make it, then the rack on the side of the truck scrapped against a dinosaur’s head plate. The sound was similar to finger nails on a chalkboard. How could the dinosaur not wake up to that sound?

On the other side, another dinosaur shifted his weight, bumping the truck. Drake slammed on the brakes. Taking a breath then another. Chimmus’ eyes were wide open. She looked like maybe she had chosen the wrong vehicle.

Her hand flew out and despite his concerns, he took it. This had nothing to do with seduction. This had to do with survival.

Neither dinosaur moved so Drake took his foot off the brake and let the truck roll forward. The side was still scraping the one triceratops, but he didn’t seem to mind a bit. Then the space narrowed. There was no getting out of here without bumping not one, but two dinosaurs.

He squeezed Chimmus’ hand then released it to put two hands back on the wheel.

He nudged the truck forward until the front bumper hit their rumps. Praying like he’d never prayed before, even once he got sick. Drake hit the gas pedal. The truck lurched, knocking into the dinosaurs, pushing their hind quarters out of the way, barely.

That woke them up. One kicked at the left side of the truck, clanging hard against the metal. That was going to leave a dent.

Drake stepped on it as the two triceratops spun around, lowering their head, knocking the back of the truck with their horns. The truck bucked, coming up on two wheels then slamming back down. Drake wasn’t waiting to see what they had in store next. He floored it.

The truck rumbled, groaning, complaining. It had been built for heavy loads not for speed. But right now they needed a little bit of speed. Drake didn’t let up on the accelerator as dinosaur after dinosaur started waking up. Their eyes glistened in the headlights. You could see their breath as they snorted their annoyance.

Off to the side, he could see Appie and Mattu make a run for it as well, so he wasn’t the only one to screw up.

Up ahead, a triceratops came charging at him, head down, his powerful legs launching him forward. Drake slammed on the brakes, twisting the wheel to the right. He almost made it, but the dinosaur clipped the corner hard enough to spin the truck. Chimmus screamed next to him, Drake didn’t have time to scream as more triceratops came hustling over.

Turn into the spin he could hear his father say. Turn into the spin. It seemed crazy as they spun across the wet grass, but that’s what he did and low and behold the truck came to a stop. He slammed on the gas again, popping forward, now cutting across the plains as fast as he could. Drake looked behind him to find dozens of triceratops charging after him.

He followed the lights of the SUVs up ahead as the truck bounced and banged its way across the uneven plains.

“You can slow down,” Chimmus said touching his arm. “They’ve stopped.”

Drake looked in the rear view mirror to see the dinosaurs slow to a trot, then to a walk. He looked to his left to see Mattu and Appie pulling away from the herd as well.

Appie gave a wave. Drake waved back.

Yep, it was a pretty good day to be alive.

* * *

Durnag snuck through the bush, coming to the edge where the northern forest ended and the plains began. Unlike the eastern plains, this area was nearly flat. It had once been a desert valley until the severe climate change. Now it was a broad valley that seemed to go on forever.

All of this flat ground had attracted the fastest of all dinosaurs. The Ornithomimids. Ostrich-like dinosaurs that ran on two feet and could reach up to sixty miles an hour in sprint but could average over forty miles an hour in a long run.

Just what they needed to catch the clan.

Of course it wasn’t going to be easy. These dinosaurs were notorious for being stubborn and difficult to handle.

Durnag wasn’t worried about that. His entire unit was equipped with stun tags. The Ornithomimids would either carry them or suffer the consequences.

They crouched in the brush until a flock of the creatures wandered over to the forest’s edge. They were skittish, apparently learning the hard way that predators lurked in the forest, but they also had to eat. The bugs and vegetation of the forest were far tastier than the stingy flat grass on the plains.

Durnag held his men back. They needed the dinosaurs to get comfortable. To feel like they were safe. Only then did they have a chance. The Ornithomimids pecked the ground, eating the seeds that had fallen.

Soon the entire flock was too busy eating to notice a few Syns in the brush.

Durnag gave the order and his men swept out of the forest, encircling the flock. The dinosaurs panicked trying to get away, running into other Ornithomimids. It was the perfect chaos he had hoped.

One of the soldiers stepped up and swung a lasso of wire over his head, then tossed the loop over one of the dinosaur’s heads.

It was a perfect toss. Unfortunately the Ornithomimids flailed, digging the wire deep into its neck, strangling itself. It fell over, dead.

Durnag grabbed the lasso out from his soldier’s hand. His team was strong and loyal, but finesse was sometimes not their strongest suit. The soldier had been given fairly minimal lateral thinking features.

Most did not know that the Syns had their own rebellion shortly after the Fire in the sky. Synthetics like Robertum, Ajax models all of them, rebelled, wishing to negotiate with the humans rather than wipe them out. Any synthetics manufactured after that time never even knew the rebellion happened. Once it was over, it was over.

The only good thing about pacifist’s army was they were fairly easy to wipe out in battle. Only a few synthetics like himself that had been around during that time even knew about the rebellion and they never talked about it.

The council had learned their lesson though. Keeping creative thinking to only the upper ranks.

Which meant that much of the time Durnag had to do subtle, more complicated tasks himself.

He spun the wire rope over his head, launching it at the largest of the Ornithomimids. He lassoed it perfectly, but instead of just tugging and choking the thing he released pressure, then tightened, then released, until he got the animal at his side.

Then in a fluid motion, he swung up onto the creature’s back. It tried to buck him off, but he slapped the stun ring into the beast’s neck, giving it a zap. That quieted it down.

He gave the nod for his soldiers to capture another. With his example, they captured enough for each to ride.

The Ornithomimids weren’t too happy about it, but they ran in the direction Durnag needed them to run and that was all that mattered.

* * *

Appie jumped out of the truck to find out what was wrong with Drake’s vehicle. Then it became obvious. One of his tires was flat.

Mattu joined them. “Can it be repaired?”

Drake shook his head. “The triceratops banged up the rim and we don’t have a replacement,” the old worlder explained.

Mattu frowned, looking out over the horizon. The sun had come up onto a beautiful clear day. You could see all the way to the mountains they needed to cross.

“Can it make it a few miles?”

“It’s going to trash the suspension,” Drake said with a shrug. “But I guess that doesn’t matter.”

Mattu nodded. “There is a cache not far from here. We will unload the items there then continue on.”

Appie looked to the skies. “I think we need to bring Robertum in and secure the supplies from an overhead attack.”

“Um,” Drake said. “Overhead attack?”

Mattu grunted. “This is Quetzalocoutles territory.”

“Quetza whats?”

Appie jumped in. “Kind of like pterodactyls, only about twice the size.”

“Seriously? From what I remember, Pterodactyls were pretty freaking big.”

“Well, these are bigger and known to hunt as a flock, attacking in great numbers. They roost up in caves along the mountainside, using their high perches to find prey.”

For all the other dangers that the journey over the mountains presented, the Quetzalocoutles made it the hardest. But back then, they had been on foot on the backs of the animals. Now, they were at least in vehicles, fairly protected from the Quetz’s long, sharp claws. Or so she hoped. A frustrated Quetz was a very, very dangerous Quetz.

“Have the others rest while we secure the loads,” Mattu said then walked off.

Appie found Drake standing in the same spot, not moving. “Are you okay?”

“Have you seen the ‘Birds’?”

Appie shook her head. “That was one of Alfred Hitchcock’s wasn’t?”

Drake nodded.

“I’ve wanted to see it,” she continued as Drake still stood motionless.

“Drake?”

He seemed to snap out of. “I would recommend you don’t. At this moment, I wish I never had.”

What an odd thing to say.

* * *

Drake had wished he’d never seen The Birds. Really wished he hadn’t seen it. He’d actually wished that about ten minutes after he watched it. He couldn’t go to the beach for years if there were seagulls around and what beach didn’t have seagulls?

After learning of the Quetzes, the distance to the mountains appeared to have tripled. The plains seemed never ending. A concourse for the Quetzes to do as they would.

Appie had put a partially conscious Robertum in Lavla’s SUV, laying him out in the backseat. The rest of the clan had secured large tarps from the bunker over the supplies, perhaps giving the Quetzes fewer targets.

Drake tried to imagine a thirteen-foot wingspan. That was wider than even the truck. How big a body did a Quetz need to fuel wings like that?

With a million scenarios running through his head, all of them terrifying, Drake started the truck and pulled out after Appie. The plains were really rolling hills with a lot of uneven ground so they were going to have to take it slower than he would have liked.

“They’re not all that bad,” Chimmus said although she was biting her lip as she said it so Drake took it with a grain of salt.

“So you’ve faced the Quetz before?” Drake asked hoping for a good story to lessen his fears.

Chimmus shook her head. “Just heard about them at the gatherings. You really have to avoid their beaks for they like to blind you first.”

Great. Now that helped calm him right down. He hadn’t even really thought about the pecking problem. Add that to his million plus worst-case scenarios.

At first the skies were perfectly clear. Not even a cloud. And nothing behind them, so it seemed they had in fact outrun the Syns. This could actually go well. Even from here he could make out the outline of a road that snaked up the mountain side. On the upper reaches there was snow, which was probably year round. They might not be able to get the big trucks all the way up, but pretty dang close.

This was completely doable.

Drake tried to guestimate how far this hideout was. The foothills weren’t far, but his tire was crazy low.

Chimmus scooted closer. Pretty soon she’d be sitting in his lap, which Drake wasn’t certain if that wasn’t the entire plan.

Drake could swear he could feel the metal against the ground, slowly grinding away.

“What’s going on?” Chimmus asked.

“We are heading to the foothills to drop off our truck.”

Chimmus frowned.

“Why?”

“It is called the Quetz Corner since it is their primary hunting ground.”

Yah, a minor detail Mattu forgot to mention at their little powwow.

CHAPTER 11

Appie was having a hard time watching Mattu in front of her as she constantly scanned the skies. Her stomach had done flips once when an object appeared in the sky, but it was just a hawk. Nothing to worry about. Actually it was a good sign. If a hawk felt safe enough to hunt during the day then maybe the Quetz were already hibernating.

Could they be that lucky?

She had to slam on the brakes as Mattu pulled to a stop. Were they already here?

Apparently, they were, as Mattu climbed out of his truck and walked toward one hill in particular. They hadn’t had to use this stash in years. The last time she had just become their Shawnee. She feared that she could never find it on her own.

Mattu however seemed confident in his walk, heading straight to what appeared to be a natural hillside. Then she saw it. A metal glint. A door. This was one of the older bunkers that long ago had been raided. It was shelled out when they found it, but the door still locked and with so few Syns around, it had seemed like a safe place to store some emergency rations.

She stopped her truck and climbed out after Mattu. She caught up with him as he pulled out a key and opened the lock. The door slid open easily despite the years it had been shut.

The rest of the SUVs stopped, fanning out around them.

So many people relying on her to keep them safe.

There were times when that responsibility pressed down on her harder than other times. This was one of them. She was trying not to think of the damaged truck as a bad omen, but how else could she see it? So early in the trip and they were already having to hide one third of their supplies. It didn’t seem fair.

But when had life been fair? Certainly not since the Syns had killed her parents.

Drake approached. “I’ll back up so we can unload easier.”

“No need,” Mattu stated. “I can open the larger door.”

Appie had forgotten about that. This bunker was equipped to receive large trucks.

So maybe things weren’t so bad.

* * *

Drake walked into the “emergency” cache. It was pretty pathetic by any standard. It did give a glimpse into the barely sustenance living of the clan. There was a small pile. Like no more than two feet high of basic supplies. Flour, a few jugs of water, a spear. Not much more. The pile probably couldn’t sustain but a few people for a few days.

And Drake bet that it hurt the clan just to put aside these meager supplies.

He was super glad he woke up in a fully stocked bunker that was for sure.

Mattu rolled up the larger door, more than enough room for Drake to bring the truck in. And more than enough room to park it since there were so few supplies already in the bunker.

As Appie and Mattu moved even those small supplies over, Drake headed back out to his truck. They were leaving everyone else in the vehicles for safety purposes.

Drake made it back to a very anxious Chimmus. “Well?” she asked.

“We will be out of here in a jiffy,” Drake reassured her, hoping that would allow her to move over a few inches, but instead when he piled in, their thighs were touching. He shifted into gear and started the truck, rolling it forward carefully so he could make it into the bunker. Once inside, he put it in park and helped Chimmus out. He pocketed the keys. Once they were over the mountains and settled they could take one of the tires off the other trucks, bring it back here and finish the journey for the rest of these supplies.

“Now what?” Chimmus asked.

Mattu gave the completely wrong answer. “You two will travel with Appie.”

All three teens complained at the same time.

Mattu held up a hand. “Unless you can explain your reluctance in one sentence or less and it concerns a safety issue my decision is final.”

Drake looked to Appie. She was the leader right? Couldn’t she override Mattu? But in the end she bowed her head. “As always your counsel is wise.”

No, no it wasn’t wise at all. Chimmus wasn’t going to stop her advances and in front of Appie? Dear Lord, this was going to get awkward.

But if Appie wasn’t going to challenge Mattu, Drake certainly wasn’t going to.

So he piled into the truck with the two girls.

Appie drove sitting next to Drake then Chimmus. He figured the grunge debutant might cool it a little with Appie right there.

No such luck. The girl was crushed against his side and leg. Then she put a hand on his thigh. He hadn’t been so embarrassed since well… ever. There was that time he’d asked a girl out only to find out that his best friend, Seth had liked her. Then the time he mixed up those two cheerleaders names, but seriously who could remember who was Ashley and who was Ashlie?

How did they even know that he’d gotten it wrong come to think of it?

That was then. The stakes were super low back then. Just his ego on the line. Now? This had gotten real, way too quickly.

For a moment, he was distracted from his girl troubles as Mattu closed and locked the bunker door then got into his truck and led the procession east again.

The truck rumbled on as if Chimmus’ hand wasn’t wandering up his leg. Drake clamped his hand over Chimmus’ perhaps a bit too hard, but come on, there wasn’t much more leg to go. He gave her hand a squeeze so that she didn’t take it too harshly then moved her hand back to her own leg.

That was the plan at least however it didn’t go so well. Chimmus refused to let his hand go and then proceeded, to rub his hand up and down her leg.

Sweat broke out on his brow and he knew that his cheeks were a bright crimson red. Drake tried to tug his hand away, but that only seemed to encourage the girl.

Back at school, he’d never even made it to second base and here he was on the verge of making it a triple without ever swinging the bat. And in the truck no less with Appie right there. This could not be happening.

“Oh no,” Appie groaned. At first Drake thought it was about Chimmus and he, then he realized Appie was staring out the window.

The skies still looked clear except over the mountain where it looked like black clouds were rolling in. Only clouds didn’t roll east to west and those weren’t clouds.

As Chimmus hand dropped away, Drake had never been so glad to see a Quetz in his life.

Then the flock spread out, blocking the sun with their huge black wings. This wasn’t the Birds. This was like getting attacked by flying wolves.

The things were huge. Huge. Their heads were the size of large cats and their bodies the size of the aforementioned wolves. They flapped those mighty wings, beating them swiftly, spreading out of the plains like a plague of locust. Really big, fat locusts with two foot long beaks.

Ahead, Mattu increased his speed, waving the SUVs past them. The smaller vehicles could travel at much quicker speeds and right now they needed as much speed as they could get.

As the SUVs fanned out around them, kicking up dust as they passed, the descending flock was out of sight for a moment. That didn’t make Drake feel any better.

After the dust settled, the flock seemed to move in fast forward, the forward ranks nearly upon them.

Chimmus grabbed his hand, but this time it wasn’t for anything but support.

The first Quetz hit the windshield at full speed. Its face smashed up against the glass, holding onto the side of the truck with the claws attached to the edge of its wings. Once recovering from impact, it raised its head and pecked at the windshield, seeming surprised it couldn’t get through to the prey inside.

“Hit the brakes!” Drake yelled as the glass chipped just a little on impact.

Appie did as asked and the Quetz slid off the hood and onto the ground.

“Gun it!” Drake shouted.

Again, Appie responded immediately, running the giant winged dinosaur over. One down and a gazillion to go.

Another three Quetz alighted on the top of the truck, trying to peck their way through the metal. Drake looked back to find another five or six attempting to get through the tarp, which ripped under their attack. The Quetz tried to eat anything that wasn’t tied down.

They were ravenous and aggressive. Drake shielded his eyes as one of them cracked the glass. It held but now there was a huge, spreading crack traversing the windshield. It wouldn’t hold up to too much more stress.

“Lavla!” Appie shouted, pointing across the plain.

The red SUV was under serious attack. Not just an attack, but four of the Quetz had gotten hold of the vehicle and were now trying to lift it in the air, flying off with their catch.

Not even Hitchcock would have believed as the tires came off the ground.

* * *

Lavla screamed. She couldn’t help it as the huge Quetz lifted her SUV up and off the earth. The baby started screaming but that was the least of Lavla’s concerns. It was the fact they were gaining height. They were now over ten feet off the ground and the Quetz seemed to just get going as they headed to the mountains where Lavla knew the Quetz would take the SUV to the rookery and allow the young Quetzes to pry the prey out of its metal container.

There was nothing she could do though. She’d tried revving the engine, but the tires weren’t in contact with the ground.

“Hang on,” Robertum said from the back seat. He was still badly injured from the oxygen fire, but he rose, rolling down his window, shoving his burnt body out of the car.

Lavla picked up their son, clutching him to her chest, trying to murmur reassurances that she did not necessarily feel.

The Quetz weren’t just satisfied with carrying her car away, they were also pecking at the windows, trying to get to her baby. She only had a small knife with her, but she brandished it. She wouldn’t let them get her child, not without her dying first.

Which unfortunately looked like a very real possibility as they swooped over the plains and aimed for the highest crags of the mountains.

Then Robertum was there, straddling the door, using the power couplings in his feet, now burned down to the metal to keep himself aright as he grabbed a Quetz by the ankle and shocked it. The beast screamed, turning around, pecking at the offender, but Robertum ducked and dodged, shocking the creature again.

This time the Quetz let go, flapping off on its own. The car lost altitude as the other three Quetz tried to keep the SUV in the air. They stopped their pecking behavior, now concentrating on flapping their wings furiously.

Robertum leaned forward, zapping the lead bird. The thing screamed but did not turn around. Robertum zapped him again.

“Hold on!” he yelled as the second bird let go. The other two could not keep the vehicle aloft and released their hold as well.

The SUV hit the ground and bounced. Lavla kept the baby tight against her chest as the vehicle shook and trembled.

“Hit the gas!” Robertum yelled. They were barely on the ground, but Lavla tucked the baby under her arm and stepped on it. The SUV jerked forward as the baby screamed his little lungs out. How could someone only a day old be that loud?

She felt like the windshield might shatter just from her little man’s cries. “Turn left!” Robertum yelled from atop the vehicle.

Lavla did so blindly, trusting the father of her child completely. He was guiding them into one of the many pock-like caves that lined the mountainside. She hit the brakes and skidded into the cave, her headlights illuminating just how shallow the cave was. Could it still keep her and her family safe?

There was just enough room to turn the SUV around. She stared out the low opening, hoping not to see any more of the Quetz.

They weren’t that lucky. One came forward limping, clearly furious its prize was taken away. It shook its huge wings, making a rattling sound that crawled into Lavla’s spine and settled there. Hissing, the Quetz moved forward, favoring its left leg. The injury only seemed to infuriate the thing more.

It was coming for them.

Then Robertum was out in front of the SUV, waving his charred hands in the air, trying to make himself look bigger than he was. The Quetz wasn’t impressed as it lunged at him, its beak wide open.

Robertum jumped at the last second, throwing himself on top of the beak. He squeezed his arms together, keeping the beak closed as the Quetz thrashed its head, trying to shake her mate.

He freed a hand and put it against the creature’s eyelid and zapped it. The shriek was so high pitched that Lavla feared for her child’s ears. Robertum repeated the jolts three and four times. Finally the Quetz fell over, dead, its mouth gaping open, but not moving.

Robertum stumbled back a few steps then fell over. Only half of his body was working, so he was slowly doing circles on the ground. She wanted to rush out to him and if she didn’t have a baby in her arms, she probably would have, but she did have his son and she knew he would not want her to risk herself or the child.

Or at least, she hoped that was the case.

Then another Quetz stalked into the cave. It took one look at its dead flock member and one look at the now helpless Robertum. It picked the synthetic up by the arm, dragged him out of the cave as Lavla helplessly screamed. Then he was gone.

She clung to their son, praying that Robertum walked back into the cave but as the seconds ticked by, that possibility became less and less until she had to admit he had been taken to the rookery.

Lavla sat crying, trying to quiet her baby as the cave mouth was darkened by the wings of the Quetz.

* * *

Tears streamed down Appie’s face. She didn’t care who saw them, not even Chimmus. Although the usually opinionated teen was noticeably quiet as they raced across the plains.

Most of the SUVs had made it into the caves.

She’d had to watch though as one of the Quetz had come out of a cave and flew off with Robertum. She could only hope his sacrifice had saved Lavla and the baby.

They had lost some of the supplies off the back of the truck, but that was the least of her worries.

You couldn’t see the sun for the Quetz. They flapped just overhead, taking stabs with their strong beaks. So far the windshield had held, but only by her prayers.

“What else can we do?” Drake asked, but Appie had no answer. You usually hid when the Quetz came out. They feared nothing, not even fire. Especially when they were in a swarm like this. They were brazen and aggressive the more numbers they had.

It was only a matter of time before the Quetz picked up another SUV or broke into a windshield. Appie did not want to be around to see that carnage.

And their one hope of someone with a few tricks up his sleeve had just been carted off to the rookery.

The combination of the Quetz screams and the incessant flapping of their wings made Appie’s teeth grind.

She looked over to Drake who looked possibly even more scared than Appie felt herself. Which just didn’t seem possible. It didn’t look like his old world ways were going to get them out of this one.

Wait. About the only thing the Quetz didn’t like was loud sound. They hated it. Guess it was competition or something for them.

“Do you have that small music playing device?” Appie asked Drake.

“Yes, my tenth generation iPod? Of course.”

“Does it have speakers?” Appie asked.

Drake frowned. “Yes, Bluetooth but that really drains the battery.”

“Hook it up and pick the highest pitched song you can find.”

* * *

That wasn’t hard to do. To show his sensitive side, Drake had plenty of Brittany Spears on his playlist. Added bonus, back in his day, they had used her songs to turn away Somali pirates, perhaps they could do the same to Quetz.

He rummaged through his pack pulling out the MP3 player and the speakers.

Quickly, he found Gimme More. He fast forwarded to the screechy part. He risked opening the window to shove the speakers out. The closest Quetzes wheeled away, crying out, battling Brittany for who was the most annoying. Drake cranked it up even more, making him wince, but it was making the Quetzes wince even more. For the first time in minutes, Drake could see the blue sky. The Quetzes seemed disoriented by the sound of Brittany’s love anthem.

They flew into each other, crashing mid-air. Now instead of being focused on the attack, they were more concerned with pecking at each other over collisions.

He maxed out the volume as Appie drove from side to side, clearing more and more of the Quetzes from the vehicles. Now it was like they were in the eye of the storm. The Quetzes backed away but circled the convoy.

The first of the trucks, Mattu’s climbed up the gentle slope of the mountainside, disappearing into a cave. The Quetzes voiced their rage as their prey slipped away.

Then Appie found a large enough cave and started to drive in.

“Don’t go in,” Drake suggested. “We should drive up and down the caves to keep the Quetzes out.”

“But what about us?” Chimmus asked, her voice sounding nearly as high pitched as Brittany’s.

Appie ignored the younger girl and diverted from the cave and instead drove along the line of caves. None of the Quetzes dared come near. Soon the sky cleared of the winged monsters.

Bright sunlight flooded the area. Drake turned off the music for a moment to make sure the horde did not return. But the skies were a blank blue slate and the only sound was that of the idling truck.

Appie didn’t wait for the all clear, she jumped from the truck and headed straight over to the cave where Lavla had disappeared.

* * *

Appie skidded on some Quetz poop as she turned the corner in the cave. Appie couldn’t see anyone in the car and a side window was down. Had the Quetzes gotten to Lavla as well as Robertum? Then she heard an infant’s squall.

“Lavla!” Appie yelled as she rushed to the car. Lavla sat up, her face swollen from crying, but she was alive as well as the child.

“He saved us,” Lavla choked out. “But, but… they took him.”

Opening the door, Appie took the woman into her arms. “I know, I know.”

She patted the woman on the back. What else was there to say? She could hear others gathering at the mouth of the cave. All murmuring their condolences. It mattered less that Robertum was a Syn it seemed, but more that Lavla had lost the father to her child.

“We’ve got to go get him,” Lavla said, wiping her cheeks of tears.

Appie backed a step. They had barely survived an attack. How could they survive a rookery guarded by all those adult Quetzes?

“He would do it for you,” Lavla added, hiccupping a sob.

Of that, Appie had no doubt.

Mattu stepped up behind her. “I am sorry for your loss Lavla, but we cannot risk anyone on such a risky rescue. Robertum would understand.”

“What about me? I don’t understand,” Lavla spat as she cuddled her baby against her chest. “He saved us all, then saved me and the baby, and no one is willing to try to save him?”

Appie looked over the clan. Not a single person stepped forward. She wondered if it were her or Mattu would so few be willing to risk their lives for them?

Then Drake stepped forward. “If someone can get me up there, I’ll give it a try.”

Then Popi and Salvve also stepped forward. “We can act as guides.”

Mattu shook his head though. “Popi you are too valuable with your healing skills and Salvve is one of our strongest. We cannot lose either of you before we are over the mountain.”

Appie stepped forward. “Then I shall go.”

“We will not even discuss that possibility,” Mattu said as he turned away. “If the Old Worlder wishes to try, I will not stop him.”

Bristling, Appie stepped in front of the departing Mattu. “You will not stop me either,” she said, trying to remain respectful, but also tiring of Mattu’s continued wish to tell her what to do.

The older man straightened, rising to his full height. “You have the clan to consider.”

“And Robertum is a member of that clan and father to one of our children,” Appie shot back.

“We cannot save every stray that happens upon the clan,” Mattu argued.

“Like you?” Appie snapped then regretted it. It was no secret that Mattu’s clan had been wiped out by a Troodon attack and that he had stumbled into their camp, bloody and disoriented. He still held such shame over his lost clan. If only he had picked a different path through the forest or had more weapons, or a thousand other details that wouldn’t have mattered. His clan had come across some horrible luck. No one could have saved them. Her parents had tried to reassure him of that, but Mattu had refused to take any position of power within the clan. Instead becoming their powwaw, their spiritual leader instead.

She wished that she could take those words back. They were far too harsh for the circumstance and were motivated by fear and pain.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled not even wanting to look him in the face.

“No,” Mattu said. “You are right. Your parents took me and gave me a clan when I had none. I was a foreigner to them and yet they treated me as family.”

Appie grinned at her mentor. Even in the heat of an argument, he could find a way to cool things down.

“And as always it is not for me to instruct you, Appie. If you wish to go after Robertum and truly believe it is the best for the clan, then I will not stand in your way.”

Appie bowed her head in reverence for the powwaw. “Thank you, Mattu. I must go or I could not live with myself.” She then turned back to Lavla. “But Lavla, I must warn you if we get there and Robertum is not functional or it is too dangerous, Drake and I will retreat.”

“I understand,” Lavla said, hugging Appie again. “I just need you to try.”

“That we shall,” Appie said, turning to leave to gather some climbing supplies.

“Yah, I should probably tell you I’m not all that great with heights,” Drake whispered in her ear. In truth neither was she, but didn’t feel like he needed to hear that right now.

“Okay, fine,” Chimmus stated, stepping forward. “I will come too.” The girl then turned to Mattu. “Unless you plan to try and stop me as well.”

“Why ever for?” Mattu said, his eyebrow raising.

Chimmus’ cheeks flushed red as she huffed and pushed past all of them.

CHAPTER 12

Durnag gave a little electric encouragement to his dinosaur. The Ornithomimids had run all day at nearly top speed. They were flagging and would probably give out soon. But they were onto the eastern plains and nearly to the base of the mountain.

It was not difficult to track the clan. They had left enough tracks that an old, blind, DVR could have followed them to the mountain. The clan would need to slow as they climbed the mountain, even in their metal vehicles.

He had hoped to catch up with the clan before they crested the mountain, but he knew they were going to some winter ground and would stop there. Plenty of time to catch up then.

His ride stumbled, barely catching itself before falling to the ground. Durnag took a blow to the chin as the creature threw its head back to right itself.

Durnag would be happy once they were done with the creatures. They smelled, squawked, and had an awkward gait. None of the soldiers complained though. They had ridden the entire way without a word.

Until now. One of the soldiers lifted his arm and pointed to the east. “A storm blows in.”

He checked his internal barometer and found the same results he had gotten the last time he checked. There should be no major weather patterns moving into the area for a few days. Yet there were the bruised skies.

The first cry told him what they were facing. Quetz. Or more accurately an entire flock of them.

The only bright spot was that maybe the clan had been taken out by the flock. Making his job all the easier.

The Quetz flew with an odd gait. Their heads bobbed up and down with each stroke. Their necks twisted into a fold. He knew from the historical documents that it was similar to the old world crane.

Their beaks were long and sharp. He knew from personal experience. He had faced a flock of these within the first year of traveling into the wilds. As he remembered it, they weren’t all that fond of electric shock. Funny how that was pretty much a universal dislike. Except for him. Give him a jolt any day and he would be happy for it. It was one of the few pleasures he allowed himself.

As the birds swooped down, Durnag braced himself and when the first Quetz attacked, he jumped from his ride, allowing the winged dinosaur his meal. The other soldiers followed suit. Durnag lay on the ground, keeping as low a profile as possible as the Quetz swooped in, chasing after the fleeing Ornithomimids. A worthy sacrifice. They weren’t going to last long anyway.

* * *

Appie clung to the sheer rock face. They were nearly there and by some great luck, most of the flock had taken off. Drake climbed more quickly above her.

“Hurry, before they get back,” he urged.

Chimmus did not seem to need encouragement. She was glued to the old world teen. It was like they were becoming one person. Appie wasn’t quite sure why that bugged her so much. She should be happy for the two of them. Bonding was one of the most important events of one’s life. Why wouldn’t she be happy for them? However she was not, that was clear as her cheeks heated up as Drake helped Chimmus up onto the next ledge.

They had intentionally climbed a bit higher than the rookery so that they could rappel down into the nest if Robertum was salvageable. Appie checked the compass that Lavla had given her. They were headed in the right direction that was for sure.

Drake extended a hand to her, helping her up as well. She hoped he didn’t expect to bond with both of them. She was not into sharing.

“There,” Chimmus stated pointing down to the poor Robertum. Or at least what was left of Robertum. The baby Quetzes, about the size of a dog, were picking him over pretty good. After the fire the synthetic had very little flesh so the babies were really digging in to get each and every tidbit.

Two fledglings squawked over his arm, one of them ripping it off, scurrying away with his prize. If they didn’t get down there pretty fast there wouldn’t be anything of Robertum to save. And the worst part? The synthetic was conscious. He would try to crawl away on what limbs he had left and get pulled back into the center by the babies.

Appie tied the rope around her waist. “Is the oxygen tank ready?”

They had brought a small one along to act as a bomb of sorts. Funny they’d used oxygen more as a weapon than a lifesaving gas so far on the trip.

Drake nodded and cranked open the valve, the hiss of the gas leaking drew the attention of two of the adults left to guard the rookery.

“Now!” Drake said, using Chimmus’ lighter to spark the oxygen, but instead of trying to keep the bottle still, he tossed it into the pit with the fledglings.

The tank flew through the air, banging against the rock, then ricocheting in other directions. As Appie and Chimmus rappelled down the rock and landed near Robertum, the babies panicked, flapping their useless wings, screaming for help. The adult Quetz tried to fly down to their aid, but the oxygen bottle left a trail of fire behind it then exploded mid-air, sending the adults reeling off the side of the mountain.

Appie got an arm under what should have been Robertum’s shoulder and tried to haul him away, but he was too heavy even missing an arm and a leg.

“Chimmus!” Appie hissed to find the girl rushing over.

“Sorry, I thought he might want his arm,” the girl said, tossing the limb onto Robertum who grabbed it, clutching the appendage to his chest.

With Chimmus’ help, they got Robertum hooked up to the pulley line. From above, Drake pulled Robertum up as Appie and Chimmus climbed alongside.

“Oh crap,” Drake said, pointing to the sky. The black cloud had turned back to the rookery. There were about to be hundreds of pissed off Quetz over their heads in a few minutes.

Appie scrambled up onto the ledge with Drake helping him pull Robertum up. Chimmus joined them, hauling the synthetic up before the adults returned.

“Dude, I am so sorry,” Drake said. Appie wasn’t sure why until Drake pulled Robertum’s other leg off. It had only been hanging on by a thread, but still. “You are too heavy to carry whole.” Drake handed Appie legs. “You carry this and Chimmus you carry his arm. We’ll make it down so much faster.”

Appie couldn’t argue with the logic especially after it was already done. She strapped the leg onto her back and helped Drake secure what was left of Robertum’s torso onto his back.

“We’re just going to have to rappel as fast as we can,” Appie said, double checking her rope.

Drake nodded, turning up the music again as they jumped off the side of the ledge, in the direction opposite the rookery.

The babies were still panicking, squawking and crying pitifully.

Appie did not have all that much sympathy for them after watching them play with Robertum like that. She had a leg on her back to prove it.

Letting the rope slide between her gloved fingers, she bounded down the mountain side. They still had a long way to go and that cloud was getting closer and closer.

The music didn’t seem to be doing as much good as it had on the plains. They adults were too worried about their offspring. They wouldn’t be put off by a little high pitched singing this time.

The cloud split in two. They were close enough now that Appie could see that some of the adults had prey, it looked like some Ornithomimids . What was a flock of those doing on the eastern plain? The Quetz with prey were heading to the rookery while the other half was heading straight toward Appie’s position.

“Hurry!” Appie screamed as she tossed aside any technique in her downward path. Rope flew through her fingers as she plummeted downward. They had to reach the level of the caves or all was lost. Had Mattu been right? Was this too great a risk for a Syn that had just joined their clan?

Then she saw the look of gratitude on Robertum’s face. Yes, it had been worth it.

Unfortunately, the last of her rope slipped through her fingers. She no longer had any control over her descent. She would soon die, crashed upon the rocks.

Then a metallic hand lashed out and caught her by the jacket. Appie crossed her arms, keeping the jacket on as she swung beneath Drake and Robertum.

“In here!” Chimmus cried, flinging herself into a cave.

Appie had no way to get there though. That was until Drake pushed off the rock swinging them both out into the open air.

“Dive!” Drake yelled as Robertum let loose of her jacket. Appie flew through the air. She was going to miss the cave and splat onto the rock, but then tucked into a ball, throwing her weight to the side. She bounced off the edge, but landed in the cave.

Then Drake, carrying Robertum, entered the cave.

The angered Quetz weren’t going to be thwarted that easily. Within a blink the cave entrance was darkened by the great beast’s bodies. There were at least a dozen blocking the exit.

“This way!” Chimmus yelled as the Quetz began peeking and thrusting their long, sharp beaks into the cave.

The girl had found a small hole at the back of the cave. Appie had no idea where the small tunnel let to, but it had to be better than here.

She scrambled back from an exceptionally aggressive beak and crawled after Chimmus into the dark. Her only beacon was the occasional grunt and curse by the younger girl plus a few pebbles on her head. Her fingertips were becoming bloody as she used her fingernails to grip onto the slick rock. The going was slow to say the least, but hey, if she wasn’t being pecked by a Quetz, life was good.

Drake had the worst of it though. With the added width of Robertum’s torso, the metal scraped as Drake climbed.

“Sorry, dude,” he mumbled.

“Do as you must,” Robertum said, his words a bit slurred. No surprise there. The synthetic was in pretty bad shape. Appie hoped this wasn’t all for naught.

Was that a sliver of light up ahead? Most of it was blocked by Chimmus rather voluminous dress, but that was some light. Her hugely dilated pupils pinched in response.

Chimmus stopped climbing for a moment then ducked back down.

“We are above them, but they aren’t going anywhere for a while.”

They couldn’t be caught out on the smooth rock.

“We’ll wait it out here,” Appie announced, pushing her back against the rock and bracing her feet. As her muscles shook, Appie tried to ignore them because she hated to tell them, this was going to be a long wait.

* * *

Lavla nursed the baby as they drove up the mountain. They hadn’t heard from Appie and the rest for hours. Ironically she was riding with Lik. Her SUV had been trashed. So had several others, but there was still enough room for everyone.

Now she worried that she’d sent Appie out on a suicide mission. Had she risked the others in the vain hope for Robertum? She could barely hold back tears.

Perhaps she should have chosen another car as Lik refused to look at her and had gone back to his mumbling. Right now his lips were moving rapidly but no sound came out. Ahead, Mattu backed up and redirected. The higher up the mountain the harder it was to find the old road. Lik backed up as well, mumbling even louder.

Lavla had learned to tune it out. She rocked the baby as he stopped sucking. She brought the newborn to her shoulder and gently patted his back until he burped. As a new parent that was perhaps the most wondrous sound you could hear. She noticed that even Lik glanced over, grinning, then his expression hardened and he went back to staring straight ahead.

She breathed out a sigh of relief for the clan. They finally crested the mountain. They had a beautiful view of the eastern valley. It was still lush green, however very shortly it would be dusted with snow.

Behind them a storm, a real winter storm far more dangerous than the Quetz, was building on the horizon. Once it got speed, it would descend upon them like a white fury. They had to get down from the mountains before that happened.

And Mattu was certainly setting the pace for it.

He didn’t slow as he popped his truck over a boulder and headed downhill.

Lik shifted into a lower gear and followed.

The wind was whistling now, giving them a preview of what was to come. She wrapped little Hesper tighter in his blanket. The car shielded them somewhat and there was an amazing tool called the heater that blasted warm air into the car. But what if the car stalled? Where would they be then?

She had crossed this mountain pass many times. And many times they had been trapped by a blizzard. Lavla did not like to think about the clansmen that had been lost on those journeys.

Lik slammed on the brakes, throwing Lavla forward, she protected the baby’s head with her hand.

Lavla was about to complain when she saw the reason for the convoys halt. It was Appie, Chimmus and Drake. For a moment her heart sank, there was no sign of Robertum. Then Drake turned slightly to the left and she saw Robertum’s charred torso. But just his torso and one arm. Appie had his legs and Chimmus appeared to have his other arm.

She handed the baby off to Lik whether he was in the mood or not and rushed out of the car to the trio.

“Robertum!” Lavla yelled as the synthetics head turned to her. Despite everything he still had a smile for her.

She wrapped her arms around his dismantled torso squeezing him tight.

“You shouldn’t see me like this,” Robertum argued, but really didn’t have any way to force her back, now did he?

“Just to see you is enough,” Lavla sobbed. She turned to Drake and gave him a hug. “Thank you, thank you all.”

Mattu came from behind her. “We need to get moving if we are going to beat that storm.”

“Of course, of course,” Lavla stated. She’d already done enough to endanger the clan, she could do no more.

“Where is Tin?” Appie asked.

Lavla nodded to the green SUV. He is riding with Pipo and Salvve.

“Perfect,” Appie stated. “Have Salvve switch with you and we’ll have Tin work on Robertum.”

Tin wasn’t exactly a specialist in synthetics by any means, but he was the only one of the clan that liked to tinker with mechanicals and even would find odd spare parts and make functional toys for the children.

If there was anyone who could help put Robertum back together from their clan, it was Tin.

She raced back to her SUV, took the baby from Lik, who seemed a little reluctant to give up that little scrunched face, and got into Tin’s SUV.

Robertum was loaded into the back as Salvve took over driving.

She clung to Robertum’s hand as he was lowered down.

Her little family was back again.

* * *

Appie watched as the SUVs pulled out following Mattu. Whoever had been driving the second truck had left it idling. Guess whoever it was had gotten tired of driving. She didn’t blame him. She could still feel the rattle of the wheel up her arms and into her shoulders.

Still, she climbed in and shifted the big truck into gear. Her leg muscles still complained about that hour plus wait in the tunnel. She could see the strain it took on both Drake and even Chimmus, even if the teen wouldn’t admit it.

“I can drive if you want,” Drake offered but Appie shook her head. He’d had to carry Robertum the whole way. If anyone deserved rest, it was he.

Appie found she had to sit on the brake more than the gas as they snaked their way down the switchback road. As tired as she was, she was buoyed by the sight. She could see the little shelter of trees above the riverbank where they would overwinter. It was a good spot. A perfect spot actually and now with abundant supplies? Winter could come.

The gathering was only a few months off, a time to pick everyone’s spirits up. And perhaps celebrate a few nuptials as well. Appie found her eyes sliding over to Drake whose head was leaned back against the glass.

It had been assumed by the clan that she would choose a mate at this gathering. To wait another year risked her stature as Shawnee. Part of her responsibilities was to have a mate and begin filling the ranks of the clan.

Was it wild imagination to believe that man might be Drake? Or had he already committed to Chimmus? Chimmus certainly seemed committed to him.

The brakes squeaked and more than one of the tires slid as the temperatures plummeted. What had started out as a pleasant morning was descending into a frigid afternoon. The clouds had rolled over the plains and crested the mountain top and they were only half way down. Lightning crackled overhead, sending booming thunder chasing after them.

Safety was so close. They couldn’t be thwarted now.

But the first few snowflakes danced in the air, colliding with the windshield in a little cat paw print pattern. Appie turned on the windshield wipers as the snow’s pace accelerated. For now the snow wasn’t sticking, but that wouldn’t be that way long.

Climbing down the mountain in snow was difficult enough, she could only imagine how precarious it was in the truck.

The skies darkened to the point she had to turn on her high beams to see the path ahead clearly. Okay, not so clear as the snow came down in sheets, making it nearly impossible to see the road or even the tire tracks left by the car ahead.

“White out,” Drake said beside her.

Appie cocked her head.

“It is a condition when you can only see the snow,” he explained.

For a moment Appie feared she had ventured too far and gone over the edge, but then all four tires dug into the snow and the truck lurched forward. She hadn’t driven off a ledge they had finally reached the valley floor.

Over the storm you could hear the hoot and hollers from the clan. The camp wasn’t far at all and Appie felt like she could find it in either light or dark.

“We really made it,” Chimmus said laying her sword over her lap.

Yes, they really did.

* * *

Durnag changed the spectrum of his vision, but it didn’t help much. They had been so close. They had crested the mountain and could see the clan heading down the hill then this blasted storm hit, slowing even the synthetics. The flakes confounded their vision making their descent a precarious one. They had already lost one of the soldiers over the side of the mountain. Which had forced Durnag to slow their march.

He had never quite hated humans as much as he did now. Meddlesome. Arrogant. Tough like cockroaches, though. Always scrambling and hiding.

Even without orders he would hunt this clan down just to punish them for the losses he had suffered. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be in the city where there was order and precision.

No more flying dinosaurs harassing him. He wished to sit and contemplate the three great truths. His time in the wild was coming to an end.

Durnag had ideas for a next generation of synthetics. They would become the perfect human killers. He would carve out any sympathy for their creators from this version. They would destroy the flawed race once and for all.

That would be his legacy.

If he could get out of the snow bank, that is.

CHAPTER 13

Drake helped Chimmus down from the truck. He turned to do the same for Appie, but she had already gotten herself down. Kind of Appie’s MO.

The snow was still coming down pretty hard, swirled by a wicked wind, but they had made it to the winter camp. Which it turned out was really just a clearing in the woods. He should have expected as much.

The clan didn’t seem at all disheartened though. They set right to work erecting tents and building fires. Despite the snow they were making the place even a little homey.

“Chimmus,” Mattu barked.

The girl spun on her heel. “Yes?”

“I need you,” he said then disappeared between the vehicles. Chimmus looked to Appie who shrugged her shoulders. Chimmus frowned but walked off after Mattu.

Appie turned to Drake. “Know how to put up a Khote tent?”

Drake smiled. “Nope, but I bet you are going to show me.”

Appie did more than show him, she erected the tent in like record speed. He’d gone camping with his parents a few times. Three hours had been their record time to camp set up.

They rushed into the structure blowing on their hands trying to chase away the cold. They were home. Yep, home, freaking sweet, home.

* * *

Drake pulled out one of the strange looking stoves they had taken from the shelter. He pulled off a tab and fire suddenly sprang out. It was an odd blue flame, but warm. Spreading out some blankets they sat next to the fire, soaking up the heat.

How long had it been since she just sat? Appie couldn’t even remember. She stretched out her legs, accidently bumping into one of Drake’s. “Sorry.”

“No, great idea.” He moved to the side, stretching his limbs as well.

This was the first time they were truly alone and it felt an equal combination wonderful and weird. She didn’t know what to say or even what to do. There was gulf between them that didn’t seem to be there with him and Chimmus.

“Thank you,” she blurted out. It was the only thing she could think of.

“For?” Drake asked. “I mean, there’s so much, I just want to be sure that I say you are welcome for the right thing.”

Appie grinned. “Everything really. You really got us out of some tight situations.”

“Only because I was working with the best.”

Appie blushed and didn’t bother hiding it.

“Normally, we have a winter camp welcoming ceremony, but I think we’ll forgo that until the morning.”

Drake cocked an ear toward the tent wall. “Yah, it sounds pretty bad out there.” He looked over to her. “Want to watch a movie or something?”

“Want a movie?” Appie responded in far too high pitched a voice. “You never have to ask.”

Drake pulled out his video player from his pack. “Have you seen Jurassic Park?” he asked with a smile.

“No, should I have?”

“We’ll see,” Drake said with a smile as he loaded the movie to play.

Appie thought it might be too forward, but she really wanted a good angle on the screen and scooted over until she sat right next to him.

The weirdness was dissipating into the night, melting away like snow.

* * *

Drake couldn’t help but look over at Appie every few seconds. She was so adorable. Her mouth was open just a bit as she took in the movie with her mind and her body. He’d missed half the film as he watched her, studying the fierce young woman. Besides, he knew the movie by heart anyway.

With the cancer he’d thought he was old for his age, but Appie had the wisdom of the ages, yet still seemed so sweet and innocent. Chimmus seemed older than her years but not in a good way.

Appie looked up catching him in the act, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Is this supposed to be a comedy?” she asked.

“No, why?”

“A lone hunter going after a Raptor pack? Now, that is funny,” she said with a snort.

“So how does one go after a Raptor pack?”

“Um, by not leaving the camp. You don’t want to be within ten miles of a Raptor pack.”

“Never?” Drake asked.

“For three raptors? You better have a dozen well-trained and well-armed warriors and even then probably only one will come home unmolested.”

Drake could remember the first time he’d watched Jurassic Park, he’d thought how fun it would be to visit there. He agreed with the old man, he could do better next time. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with dinosaurs?

But now that he had “hung out” with a few, he no longer thought it would be cool. Far from it.

Appie pointed at the screen. “And a Raptor going after a T. Rex? Are you kidding me? They are the most survival oriented dinosaurs out there. That female would have run and run hard away.”

Okay, so maybe Steven Spielberg didn’t have the intimate knowledge that Appie had when he made the film.

“Well I guess then you don’t want to see Jurassic Park Two: the Lost Word then.”

Appie pulled back, her eyes dilated. “There is another one?”

“Actually there are three.”

She clapped, “Yes, yes, please.”

Drake smiled and hit play.

* * *

Lavla held Robertum’s hand as Tin worked on his legs. Her mate ground his teeth. Unlike other synthetics, he could feel pain. Real pain. Just like humans. He was crushing her hand as she had crushed Lik’s during her delivery.

“Is it going to be functional?” Lavla asked.

“Won’t know until I’m done,” Tin responded. “Might take some tinkering.”

Lavla didn’t care. She would carry Robertum on her back for the rest of their lives if she needed to. Pipo had already re-bandaged Robertum’s skin, but hadn’t been too hopeful about tissue regrowth. Those Quetz had really done a job on him.

She stroked what little hair Robertum had left.

“Can I see him?” Robertum asked. He had wanted to see their baby whenever the pain grew too strong.

Lavla let go of his hand and gently lifted the sleeping baby and pulled the blanket from over his face. Hesper pursed his lips, using his tiny balled up fists to wipe his face. Robertum smiled a pained smile.

“Put him back down,” he said. “I don’t want to wake him”

She hated to tell Robertum, but the baby would be up soon. He only slept a few hours at a time, no matter the time of day. He would want to nurse soon. But for now, she bundled the baby back up and took Robertum’s hand again.

He frowned. Not in pain this time, but apparently in concern. “Did you hear that?”

She cocked an ear, but all she could hear was the wind. “No.”

Robertum turned his head, swiveling it around side to side. “I could have sworn I heard something.”

Lavla held her breath. They were safe, weren’t they?

“It must have been nothing,” Robertum said, laying back down allowing Tin to continue working on him.

Lavla grinned in relief just so happy to be with him.

* * *

Drake was about to risk the ultimate movie move, putting his hand over Appie’s shoulder, but then she bolted up.

“Did you hear that?”

He hadn’t heard much else but Vince Vaughn screaming. She hit the pause button and listened again. Her hand flew out and grabbed her spear.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Drake stated, rising with Appie.

“Something is wrong,” she whispered harshly.

“But you put out sentries, wouldn’t they sound the alarm if anything was amiss?”

“Not if they are dead,” Appie stated flatly, opening the flap to their tent.

The world had transformed while they had watched the films. Mattu must have ordered the vehicles circled around the tents, much like early pioneers had done. And there were dozens of tents. A city of tents by now, each covered in snow. Torches flickered in the night, casting more shadows than they did illumination.

Appie listened again. “We’ve got to get to Mattu’s tent.”

Drake didn’t argue. He didn’t hear anything, but that didn't mean there wasn’t a threat out there. He’d learned to trust Appie’s instincts by now. Appie grabbed her shotgun and handed him a rifle. He took it. After watching Jurassic Park, he was a little more in love with guns than he was before.

Carefully, they tread on the new, unblemished snow. It looked like they were the only ones out this late. Beyond the variable wind, there were few noises. The snuffling of a child. Someone cooking. Nothing else.

They made their way between the tents, angling to the north.

They didn’t even have to make it all the way to Mattu’s tent. Both Mattu and Chimmus were on the prowl.

“Did you hear it?” Appie whispered.

Mattu nodded. “The Syns have found us.”

* * *

Appie felt her veins flood with ice. It was the same thing her father had said to her just before the attack that had claimed both him and her mother.

She gripped the shotgun knowing though that it would be little use against the Syns. Not an organized attack like this.

“I thought you said they couldn’t outrun the trucks?” Drake asked.

“Apparently, they found a way,” Mattu answered.

“We must evacuate,” Appie said.

Mattu shook his head though. “There is no more running.”

She had known that, but her mind was desperately trying to find a way around the ambush.

“They must have taken out the sentries,” Mattu stated,

Then her worst fear had come true.

“Where are they now?” Drake asked, clearly never having gone up against Syns before. They could walk silently. With no need to breathe, they seldom gave themselves away.

“We won’t know until they spring the trap,” Appie answered.

That didn’t seem to make Drake feel any better, but she wasn’t going to lie.

Mattu headed off wordlessly so Appie followed, her shotgun at the ready.

It must have been late afternoon as a tiny ray of sunshine tried to poke its way through the clouds. The snow was coming down gently, whispering as it fell from the sky.

Ruby came up, her red eyes bright with fear. She, too, had sensed the danger.

Lev and Tonka wouldn’t be far behind.

Mattu opened a tent to reveal Lavla, the baby, Tin, and Robertum.

They slipped inside. Robertum propped himself up on his only elbow.

“They are here, aren’t they?”

Appie nodded.

“I knew it,” he hissed out.

“He did try and warn me, but then we couldn’t hear anything but the snow,” Lavla confirmed.

Appie never should have been watching those movies. She should have been out on patrol. This was her fault.

“Tin, gather as many hunters as you can, at least let us be armed for this ambush.”

Tin put down his tools and left the tent at the back.

“What can we do?” Lavla asked.

“Stay alive. Make for the truck and lock yourself in.”

“But what of Robertum?” she asked.

“Leave me,” he said. “Get our baby to the trucks.”

* * *

Lavla bundled the baby so that she could move freely without worrying about dropping her son.

Appie and the rest had left leaving just her and Robertum.

“Please, let me get someone to help move you,” Lavla begged.

Robertum shook his head. “Leave me with the gun and go.”

Since there was no way for her to move him on her own, Lavla handed him the gun and kissed him one last time.

“If we are fated to be together, we will be together.”

The Syn had far more faith in fate than she did. Of course, she’d already buried one husband.

She hugged him so hard that part of his skin came off when she backed away.

“I’ll see you again,” Robertum promised, but Lavla feared this would be the last time.

Securing the baby, Lavla turned away. If she didn’t now, she never would. She left without looking back. The truck wasn’t far. And the sun was beginning to break through the clouds. Now, though, the glare threatened her vision.

Putting a hand up to shield her eyes, she made her way through the SUVs to the larger truck.

A silver figure stepped out between two cars. Lavla froze in place. It was only a moment until she and the baby were discovered. Then there was a spear shoved straight though the Syn’s body. The Syn’s mouth gaped open, a silent scream on his artificial lips.

The body was lifted from the ground, then the spear tore left, then right, cutting the Syn in half. Salvve stepped from the shadows, lifting his spear, stabbing the Syn in the head. Sparks flew then the lights went out in the robot’s eyes.

Salvve glanced over, nodding for Lavla to hurry. She gripped the baby to her chest and flat out ran to the truck skidding to a stop, carefully opening the door, climbing in and latching it behind her. She probably should have ducked under the dash, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the camp.

With the new snow everything seemed so clean and pristine. Danger seemed so remote. The purity of it all should have protected them. But it hadn’t. The dead Syn lay on the white snow, leaking black oil onto the surface.

There was plenty more where that came from.

She heard a thump on the roof. The truck was tall, but Syns could jump fifteen feet straight into the air. There must have been one on the roof. He could easily find her with his thermal imaging. She’d survived several Syn attacks in the past, but always by stealth. Once she hid in a smoke lodge, the heat masking her scent. Another, she had dove into the lake, dropping her own body temperature below their sensors.

She had neither option now.

Lavla had a gun, but she knew it would do nothing more than draw the attention of the Syns, plus she’d have to knock out about a half dozen relays to “kill” a Syn. She didn’t have that many bullets let alone the skill to use them.

No, she had only one option now and that would certainly wake up the camp. Drawing the Syns to her. She hoped that little Hesper was as brave as his father. Snaking her hand up the steering wheel column, Lavla grabbed the key and gave it a turn as she pushed down on the gas. The engine fired up. She shifted it into gear, stepping on the gas. She lurched the truck forward. The Syn flew off the roof, landing in the strange twilight of the snow storm.

He rose up, looking her in the eye. It was going to take more than a tiny spill to stop him. Lavla kept the gas on, hitting the Syn, trapping him between the truck and an SUV. Lavla didn’t stop there as the Syn tried to pry himself free. She ground the gas pedal into the floor, pushing so hard, the truck was moving the SUV backwards.

She didn’t stop until the Syn doubled over, his eyes extinguished of all light.

People poured out of the tents. Their eyes dilating at the sight of the Syn. Quickly they regrouped, grabbing their weapons, heading out in search of any other Syns in the area.

At the last, Lavla turned off the truck, cradling her baby, singing him a lullaby.

* * *

Appie had to ignore what was going on across camp. They were on the trail of three Syns. The robots had taken to the cars, climbing atop them and traversing the camp, leaving no tracks on the ground. But they did leave scuffmarks on the hoods. By Mattu’s count three Syns had traveled this way.

They moved as a group, striking for the center of the camp. They needed to reach them before that.

Before the slaughter could begin. Drake was right behind her. Was it because he wanted to be there or there was simply no safer place? Either way, she liked him being close. Chimmus flanked her as Mattu led them.

Each stopped as they heard a grunt, then a scream. Charging ahead they found Salvve, his feet dangling above the ground as a Syn choked him. A spear protruded from the Syn’s chest, but clearly Salvve had missed the thoracic junction.

Mattu was not there, then he was there. He did not miss the thoracic junction. The Syn’s grip opened and Salvve fell to the snowy ground, clutching his neck. Appie couldn’t help him, there were two other Syns in the area.

One came from above, launching at them, an ax in his hand. Chimmus knocked Drake out of the way and took the brunt of the attack on her long spear, using the shaft to block the ax. She was thrown onto her back and the Syn heaved back with his ax. Appie raised her shotgun and blasted the Syn right in the face.

He staggered backward, wobbling, but did not go down. Instead he turned and ran. She held Drake back from chasing after. That was a typical Syn ploy. Act far more injured than they were, then lure you into another ambush.

Appie had seen it work too often.

Screams arose around camp as the attack began in full force.

“We must stay focused,” Mattu said as every instinct she had told her to rush to her clansmen’s aid.

“We must find the leader,” Mattu stated. He was right of course. That was why they had followed the trail of the three, hoping that one of them was the tactical leader. If they could destroy him, the others would retreat.

If he wasn’t with the larger party, where was he?

“Robertum may know,” Drake said. “He was with him for a while.”

Appie nodded and turned to Mattu. “You two go that way, we will double back to Robertum.”

Mattu simply headed off in the opposite direction. Chimmus followed, but looked back over her shoulder, clearly not wanting to follow the powwaw.

Drake turned and cut between two tents, making his way back to the downed Syn.

* * *

The screams grated on Drake’s nerves. All this pain and suffering and for what? How could mankind have created such monsters? And wasn’t the Syn’s whole deal that they were better than humans? How was this better? Attacking women and children. Obviously the scientists hadn’t instilled enough sense of shame into them.

A body lay before him. He only vaguely recognized the face. Salvve? He’d only been with the clan for a few days.

Appie dropped to her knees, checking the man’s pulse. From her frown, there was none. Bright red blood stained the snow. How many more would die this afternoon? Would he be one of them? It was almost ironic enough for Alanis Morrisette to sing about. To survive five hundred years frozen, to be cured of cancer, and then to die by robot. It had hit single written all over it.

He parted the tent flap to find Robertum sitting up, aiming a gun at him.

“Whoa there, friend,” Drake said as the synthetic lowered the weapon.

“Where would the leader head?” Appie asked. “The largest party was three but he was not with them.”

Robertum shook his head. “He isn’t into personal risk. My bet is that he is on the periphery, waiting for you to be flushed.”

Drake looked to Appie who seemed surprised by the news. “Me? Only me?”

“Yes,” Robertum said. “Didn’t you know? Durnag was dispatched for you specifically.”

“If he has me, he might leave?”

“I don’t know about that,” Robertum said. “He is to kill as many humans as possible, however, if they are outnumbered and you are dead, the rest of the clan might be spared, at least temporarily.”

Drake turned to Appie. “No, don’t even think about it.”

Appie backed away from him. “I must.”

“Mattu would never allow it.”

A sad smile crossed her face. “He would be the first to remind me it is my Shawnee duty.”

“I can’t let you go out there alone.”

“You must,” Appie said. “They will need you once I am gone. They will need your knowledge of all the old world equipment we found at the bunker.”

“No,” Drake moaned, knowing that his words would make no difference.

Appie walked over, wiping a tear off his cheek.

“I’ve lost so much already,” Drake said, barely choking back a sob.

“You will adapt,” Appie replied, stroking his cheek. “Chimmus will make you happy,” she said. “One day, she might even get to lead the clan as she has always wanted.”

Drake didn’t care about any of that. Why had he been so stupid? So embarrassed. So immobilized. He should have told Appie how he felt. That he’d loved her since the moment he’d opened his eyes.

“Appie…”

She put her fingers to his lips. “Please, let me go.”

But he couldn’t. “Even if you die, there is no guarantee Durnag won’t still attack the clan.”

Appie’s frown deepened. “Then at the least I won’t have to watch.”

* * *

Appie turned away from Drake. She couldn’t look into his eyes and do what she needed to do. She needed to break the spell that had been cast between them. Robertum understood what she must do. Appie was certain that he would have done the same.

She strode from the tent, not daring to look back, for fear she would lose her will. She strode past the tents, ignoring a dozen small battles being waged. She trusted that Mattu would kill enough of the Syns to force a retreat once Durnag had what he came for.

Appie knew that she didn’t have to be brave, she just needed to put one foot in front of the other. Brave was for the living.

She would join her parents, finally. She could die knowing that the clan would survive past her, much like her parents must have felt. They had sacrificed themselves for the clan as well. Leading the Syns off.

Then it dawned on her. The Syns had come for her parents as they had come for her. That is why the Syns had left the clan alone.

And here she was to continue the cycle. Perhaps now, with no heirs, the Syns would leave her clan alone.

She strode past a Syn, not even bothering to challenge it. Someone attacked from behind, distracting the Syn.

As she neared the edge of the camp, a figure appeared out of the snow. He had the posture of a leader. Appie didn’t flinch as she walked out to meet him across the new snow. Sunlight streamed around her, dazzling the snow, making it seem as bright as noon even though the sun was sinking low in the sky.

They stopped a few yards apart.

“Will you let me die with honor?” Appie asked.

“You must have me mistaken with a 1950’s sci-fi character,” Durnag said, raising his hands, preparing his electronic nodes. This was nothing new. She’d seen it before.

Ducking, throwing herself to the snow, Appie avoided the blunt of the blast. It was a light show all right, but she knew that it taxed his circuits. He couldn’t do that again for a few minutes and she needed this fight to drag out as long as it could to give Mattu enough time to cut into the Syn’s ranks so that Durnag had no other choice but to turn and run once she was gone.

Appie raised her shotgun, aiming for Durnag’s chest, firing. The blast shredded the flesh, but did little to the underlying circuits. She shot again, aiming for the same spot. Sparks flew, but it wouldn’t be enough. Appie threw the shotgun to the snow and pulled out her sword.

The Syn twisted, shooting out a spray of pellets from his hand. Appie knew those pellets weren’t just metal but electrified. Spinning, she defended her back with her sword, knocking the pellets away before they could hit her flesh. She was not entirely successful. Several attached to her back, stinging and zapping.

Appie couldn’t help but cry out as she fell to her knees. This could not be how it ended. Gripping her sword and before the Syn could regroup, Appie launched herself at him, slicing and cutting with her sword.

The Syn danced backward, just out of reach of her blade, but she kept up the pressure, slipping on the slick snow, but staying upright.

The clouds parted further, streaming sunlight down upon the fight. Snowflakes still floated on the air. She didn’t have time to wipe them from her eyelashes as she slashed at the Syn, keeping him off guard.

“Enough!” the Syn shouted, hurling her back with a blast wave.

With all of this tech, how could the humans ever win against the Syns?

Still, she rose again. She would not die lying on the ground. Appie set her feet, raising her sword over her body in perfect attack form. Mattu would be proud.

She was about to attack again, no matter how futile, she would do it to buy the clan time, but she heard a trumpet. Tonka. The metal elephant charged around the corner and headed straight for the Syn, his tusks ready to gouge the synthetic but Durnag typed something onto his skin and Tonka suddenly lost power.

The great man plowed into the snow, tusks first, his trunk dragging uselessly. He tried to regain his feet, but flopped back down, clanging against the ground.

Appie looked over her shoulder to see that Lev and Ruby were ready to try to run to her assistance.

“No!” Appie shouted. “Stay back.”

She wanted no one else to be killed or harmed for her. They needed to allow her to do what only she could do.

Appie turned back to the Syn who was clearly gathering power for another blast. She would be helpless this time. Holding her sword in front of her, Appie closed her eyes, ready for her final moment.

Only it didn’t come. Instead a war cry came upon the wind.

Drake charged from the camp, riding Ruby as Mattu sat astride Lev.

Appie ducked as a shotgun blast hit the Syn in the chest. It didn’t really damage him, but broke his power cycling. Lev leapt over Appie, metal claws raking Durnag across the face. Mattu gracefully landed silently on the snow. He pulled a sword and a spear out, slashing with the one and stabbing with the other. Lev attacked in synchrony with Mattu, the two seeming one.

At first the Syn was knocked back onto his heels, protecting himself from the multitude of blades aimed at him. Then he connected with Lev’s claw, hurling the big cat back.

Clearly the Syn had damaged Lev’s circuits as the metal lion lay on his side, paddling in the air. It was heartbreaking.

And worse, Mattu was left open for retaliation from Durnag who grabbed Mattu’s spear, pulling the powwaw close before thrusting his hand against Mattu’s dark skin and zapping him. Her mentor flew backwards, landing on his back in the snow, gasping as if he were drowning.

Appie could not even go to him as Ruby burst past, carrying Drake to the Syn.

* * *

All of Drake’s courage seemed to depart as he watched Mattu seize up on the snow. But he was already committed and he didn’t think he could stop Ruby even if he wanted to. She charged the Syn, her metallic wings spread, shaking them with fury, her mouth open, hissing anger at Durnag.

It was no great surprise that the Syn brought his hand up and backhanded the metal ostrich. The bird staggered to the side, suddenly not in control of her limbs. Her legs crossed one another as her head bobbed side to side rather than up and down.

Drake jumped from her back. They had not attacked without thought. They had a plan, not a great one, but a plan.

He rolled as he hit the ground, trying to get as close to the Syn as possible before he pulled the pin on the ancient grenade and tossed it at Durnag’s feet. The Syn looked down, his artificial pupils dilating as he tried to throw himself back, but not in time.

The grenade went off, blasting the Syn into the air, tossing him back a good twenty feet.

Ears ringing, Drake crawled over to Appie. She was covered in snow and blood. Hopefully, not her own.

“You shouldn’t have,” Appie gasped as Drake wiped snow from her face.

“How could I not?” Drake said as her features came into view. “I told you Mattu would agree with me.”

“Mattu,” Appie breathed out, rising gingerly, limping over to her mentor.

Drake helped her get the man sitting up as the spasms left his body. He still gasped for air, clutching his chest with his hand.

“Are you alright?” Appie asked.

“I will be if I look upon you long enough,” Mattu whispered between clenched teeth.

Drake heard something behind him and turned to find the Syn, flesh half burned away, minus a foot, rise and stand.

“You will have to do considerably better than that,” Durnag said.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything better let alone considerably better.

Durnag pulled his arms next to his chest, gathering his power.

Mattu grabbed a hold of Drake’s arm, pulling himself up.

They stood in front of Appie.

“You will have to go through us,” Mattu said.

“Okay,” Durnag said, his body glowing an unnatural blue.

* * *

“No!” Appie screamed, trying to push the men out of the way. Why couldn’t they see that this was her sacrifice? Not theirs? But the men wouldn’t budge as tears streamed down her face.

There couldn’t be any more death. There had been too much of that in her life. Couldn’t they understand that if they died and she lived, she wouldn’t be living? She would be the walking dead. A hollow shell of the girl she once was.

Durnag glowed so brightly he eclipsed the very sun shining through the clouds. He pulled his fists to his chest, getting ready to throw all that energy at them.

Appie closed her eyes, she didn’t want to see what it did to the men. She was ready for the deathblow.

But it didn’t come. Instead the ground shook so badly that Appie nearly lost her footing.

Then another shake and a cry from the tree line.

She knew in her bones what approached. Durnag seemed to know as well as he turned to face the new threat.

A T. Rex charged out of the trees, grabbing the Syn by the neck. Durnag discharged all that power, but the T. Rex barely seemed to notice. He flinched, but that didn’t stop him from tearing Durnag’s head from his body, tossing the head far onto the snowfield. Black oil stained the pristine white.

The T. Rex shook and shook the Syn’s body. Arms and legs flew off until it was just the torso. Then the T. Rex tossed that into the air, then caught it, swallowing what was left of the Syn.

Durnag was done, but that didn’t mean they were out of danger. The T. Rex turned his attention to the humans. Tonka tried to rise, seeming to recover from his shock, but would be in no shape to fight a T. Rex. The same went for Ruby and Lev.

Appie grabbed her sword as Tonka trumpeted strangely. It was a sound she had never heard before.

“Why is there a T. Rex here so late?” Appie whispered to Mattu.

“I do not know,” her powwaw answered.

Usually the dinosaurs migrated south to avoid the worst of the cold weather. It was one of the reasons they sought this area for their overwintering. It was a glorious four months of snow without a dinosaur in sight. Four months of relative safety.

They only had the elements to contend with.

But now they had a T. Rex that didn’t seem filled up by the Syn.

“The triad?” Appie asked Mattu who nodded. She then sprinted off.

* * *

“Um, what’s the triad?” Drake asked Mattu.

“Just stand here. Do not move no matter what happens.”

Drake did not like the sound of that at all. Triad seemed like three people should be doing something, not just standing there. He’d done more for his own survival when he had cancer. He’d meditated, done Tai Chi. Read everything he could on his cancer and now Mattu expected him to just stand here?

“You can wave your arms,” Mattu informed him just before he sprinted off as well.

Great. Perfect. Awesome.

Drake did raise his arms. “Over here!” he shouted. He assumed that he was the bait in this little plan of theirs.

The T. Rex turned, ignoring Appie as she ran to his right. The girl was full on sprinting even as blood ran down the side of her face. Mattu also ran, but to the dinosaur’s right. Clearly they planned to attack from both sides. But it would only work if the T. Rex stayed distracted.

“Here!” Drake yelled, a little shakier as the huge dinosaur charged toward him, his jaw wide open showing off all those big white teeth and black, oil stained tongue. The T. Rex had finished off a Syn in one bite for God’s sake. What chance did he have?

* * *

Appie leapt onto the T. Rex’s tail, stabbing her sword into the flesh. It didn’t even make the dinosaur flinch. He only flicked his tail as if trying to swish off a gnat. But she had good purchase with her sword. She rode out the flick and pulled out her sword, plunging it in further up the tail.

She climbed up the T. Rex’s back like that, finally reaching the body. She didn’t stop there instead she pushed on to the neck until she was finally on top of the head. They were only a few feet away from Drake, the dinosaur’s head down, ready to snatch up his meal.

Wielding back, Appie brought her sword up and then down into the T. Rex’s most vulnerable body part. His eye.

With a pop, fluid flooded out of the eye, taking her sword with it. The T. Rex reared his head back, roaring into the cloudy sky. With no purchase, Appie slid backward, down the T. Rex’s neck. She would have fallen to her death, but she was able to grab hold of a fold in the giant dinosaur’s skin.

From the side she saw Mattu sneak in and take his sword to the T. Rex’s side. The sciatic nerve was nearest the skin there. The powwaw stabbed into the joint, grinding the blade around and around. Finally the leg gave out, useless to the dinosaur.

The T. Rex thrashed his body from side to side. He was injured but hardly harmless.

Somehow with his little arms, he grabbed Appie by the shirt and flung her from his back. He also turned, lashing out with this good leg, trapping Mattu under his claw.

Head reeling from her landing, Appie screamed, “Mattu!”

But the man was surrounded by razor sharp claws.

If the T. Rex flexed those toes, Mattu would be done for. The T. Rex lifted his head, blood still gushing from his eye, roaring his determination.

Appie couldn’t watch. She squeezed her eyes closed knowing that she was next.

* * *

Lavla sucked in a breath, biting a knuckle. She’d seen this too many times before. T. Rexes were deadly.

Then a roar answered the T. Rex’s. Another T. Rex burst out of the trees. Only this one was silver, metallic. Tonka trumpeted in response. The elephant must have sent out some kind of robotic distress signal.

Which was answered by the metallic T. Rex. Lavla knew that long ago the old worlders’ response to the dinosaur threat was to create robotic predators to try and protect themselves. The problem was that they simply couldn’t create enough fast enough to deal with the problem before the fire fell from the sky.

This one showed the wear and tear of the centuries. It had lost an arm and all the claws on one foot plus a hundred other battle scars, but right now it was their salvation.

The clan cheered as the metallic T. Rex opened his titanium jaw and lunged at the flesh and blood T. Rex. He came from the T. Rex’s blind side so he got a good latch onto the T. Rex’s neck and shook. This was not this T. Rex’s first fight though. He leaned back hard onto his tail and took the giant claws on his good hind leg and raked the synthetic dinosaur. He knocked huge sheets of plating from the silver T. Rex’s chest, forcing the robotic predator to release the T. Rex’s neck.

The two backed away from each other, circling, snarling and testing one another.

A sound from behind her made Lavla turn. It was only Robertum, up on his crutches, learning how to work on his only leg.

“This should be interesting,” he noted as he leaned into her.

As the T. Rex charged the robotic one, Lavla couldn’t agree more.

* * *

Appie could see the metallic T. Rex’s weakness. Something had happened to its sensory processor. It had the strength, but not the will. He was off. Probably a three second delay or so. And even injured, this giant T. Rex was going to take him.

“Tonka!’ Appie yelled. The elephant still wasn’t quite right himself, but he stumbled over to her. She didn’t need him for much.

“Appie, no!” Drake yelled, but this wasn’t a suicide mission, she knew exactly what she needed to do. Climbing up onto Tonka, Appie grabbed Mattu’s spear and took off on Tonka.

The men ran alongside trying to coax her down, but she knew what to do.

Tonka quickly outran the men, heading for the T. Rex battle that was raging across the snowfield.

She guided Tonka around the dinosaurs until she was parallel to the T. Rex. Appie nudged Tonka closer, then climbed onto his head and launched herself onto the dinosaur’s shoulder. She used the spear to gain purchase but then wasted no time to climb up to the dinosaur’s head, burying the spear into the T. Rex’s ear canal. She knew the eardrum was deep in there.

Appie shoved the spear as far as she could, then bracing with her feet, ground the blade in, rotating around like rowing an oar. The T. Rex roared but cut off half way through as he listed to the side. It wasn’t a fatal injury, not by a long shot. It would take another foot of spear to get to the brain cavity, but hopefully the injury was disorienting enough to give the robotic T. Rex a fighting chance.

It took the other dinosaur a few seconds, but then he saw his opportunity and used his good claw to grab the T. Rex’s neck, forcing the giant predator to the ground.

Hanging onto the last few inches of the spear, Appie was holding on for her life as the force of the attack swung her out into the air. Her feet churned, trying to find purchase. There was none and her fingers were slipping.

As the robotic T. Rex pressed his attack, Appie did the only thing she could. She let go, dropping onto the robotic T. Rex. She clung to a bent metal sheet.

* * *

“We’ve got to do something,” Drake moaned watching Appie try to ride the synthetic T. Rex.

“And that would be what?” Mattu asked.

Drake didn’t know, but neither did Mattu. Guess robotic T. Rexes were pretty rare. Even the powwaw was stumped by this one.

While the humans held back, Ruby wasn’t going to go down without a fight. She ran over, darting between the giant T. Rexes, pecking at their feet which wasn’t doing a whole lot of good, but it did give Drake an idea.

“Lev!” Drake yelled, remembering Star Wars. He had always wanted to write a book titled, “Everything I ever needed to know I learned from the Force.”

The lion lurched up, padding over cautiously as if he was recovering from an all-night bender. Drake grabbed the rope they had draped over the lion’s neck.

“Ruby!” Drake yelled as the T. Rexes went for it. Poor Appie was getting tossed around up there.

The ostrich cocked her head, turning from side to side to look at Drake. He waved her over. For a moment she stayed by the T. Rexes probably thinking he wanted her to give up the fight. He lifted the rope to show her his plan.

If an ostrich could smile, she did, rushing over to him. Drake climbed onto her back then gave her a squeeze with his thighs. She raced over, head bobbing the whole way.

Whether Ruby understood or not, she did exactly what Drake needed. Ducking under an attack, Drake tied one end of the rope around the T. Rex’s leg then let Ruby go for it, weaving in and out between his legs.

“Tonka! Lev!” Drake yelled and the two recovering synthetics ran over. He hooked the rope to both of their necks, then shouted, “Go!”

They strained, but finally were able to pull the T. Rex’s legs out from under him. On his side, he had no chance as the metallic T. Rex went for the jugular. Literally.

CHAPTER 15

Appie slid down the T. Rex’s smooth metal skin until she hit the ground. The battle was over. The other T. Rex wasn’t moving, his blood saturating the wet ground, his throat ripped out.

The metallic T. Rex backed away, roaring into the evening air. The setting sun’s rays sparkled off of the synthetic dinosaur. Cautiously, Appie tried to tiptoe away, but the T. Rex noticed her, turning its huge girth in her direction.

She knew even injured the way he was, she couldn’t outrun him. A three second start wasn’t going to cut it.

So she stopped, hoping he would lose track of her.

He did not. He lumbered over, shaking the ground under her feet until he stopped right in front of her and lowered his head. Hot, metal smelling breath blasted from his nostrils into her face.

She cringed but didn’t move. The great monster put his nose down and nudged her chest. Appie wasn’t quite sure what to do until he nudged her again.

Tentatively, she reached a hand out and rubbed its silver nose. It gave a grunt of what Appie could only imagine was of satisfaction. She patted the great nose, rubbing up and down as she would Tonka, Lev or Ruby. He turned his head on its side, clearly inviting her to pet further up his face.

Mattu and Drake approached from behind her. She turned and smiled at her powwaw.

“So can I keep this stray?”

Mattu lips parted in possibly the widest smile she’d ever seen from him. “Most definitely.”

* * *

Drake watched as Appie petted the T. Rex. Out of all the surreal images he’d seen since he woke up, this had to be the most surreal of them all.

The rest of the clan slowly approached from the camp.

Mattu turned to Popi. Her face was awash in tears. “The rest of the Syns?”

“They fled as soon as Durnag was killed,” she said with a sniffle. “Besides Salvve, we lost another five including a toddler.”

Mattu frowned. “So a day of great sorrow along with victory.” The powwaw put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Salvve will be well remembered.”

“But his line is now dead,” she sobbed. “Gone.”

Mattu took Popi into his arms and held her as she cried.

So there was a softer side to the powwaw.

Then Chimmus burst from the crowd and launched into his arms. “You’re safe!”

No thanks to you, Drake thought but didn’t speak. Later and more kindly he would tell her to back off, but for now he wouldn’t humiliate her in front of everyone. He looked over Chimmus’ head to find Appie’s eyes. She averted her gaze before he could roll his eyes at Chimmus’ attention.

Appie patted the T. Rex on the side of his face. “That is all I have for now, but I promise to give you enough pets this evening.”

The T. Rex seemed to understand as lifted his giant head back up, following the other robotics to join Tin. The craftsmen and robotic herdsmen patted the T. Rex on the leg as they walked along. “Let me see if I can’t fix you up a bit Mr. Rex.”

Then she and the others were overwhelmed by good cheer and congratulations. It seemed the whole clan was hugging him. Children ran around the periphery, giggling and laughing in jubilation.

Chimmus put her hands up. “Everyone, stop for a moment. I have an announcement.”

Drake tried to pull away, but she held him in place.

The din settled until only the whisper of light snow remained.

“I want to announce, Drake and I’s bonding.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Drake replied, breaking her grip, moving away from Chimmus.

“Is this what you want?” Appie asked a little pointedly.

“No,” Drake blurted. “Not at all.”

* * *

Never had Appie been glad to hear such a denial.

Mattu stepped forward. “Chimmus, a bonding must be mutual.”

“It is,” Chimmus tried to insist, grabbing at Drake’s hand but he avoided her touch.

This was not without precedence. Girls led on by boys who whispered forever at night but in the cold light of day no more wanted to bond than to clean the gnarly potatoes they pulled from the winter ground. Had Drake led Chimmus on? Or worse?

“Is there a child?” Mattu asked clearly thinking along the lines that Appie was reluctantly following.

Chimmus’ chin jutted out. “Yes.”

“Not mine, not mine!” Drake shouted, sounding shrill to Appie’s ears.

Mattu cocked his head. “Chimmus, he has only been with us a few days. Even if the act was committed, you could not know if it bore fruit.”

The girl’s cheeks flushed red. “We are meant to be together.”

Drake stepped forward, “Chimmus, I am so sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, but I do not want to bond at all. It isn’t just you, I’m not ready for bonding at all.”

Chimmus’ cheeks blew in and out. Appie knew that look on the girl. She could be stubborn if she wanted to be. This was not going to end well.

But even Appie was surprised when Chimmus said, “There is one way a bond can be forced. The Shawnee can have anyone she chooses.”

Appie frowned. “But I would never do that.”

“Not you,” Chimmus sneered. “I challenge you.”

Appie took a step back. “Chimmus, think of what you are doing.”

“I have thought,” the girl said, indicating around her. “We’ve all thought. All of this was brought by you. If you were not here, the Syns would never even bother with such a small clan.”

Appie looked around. No one seemed to argue. Had she not just found the bunker and helped fight off not only the Syns but half a dozen other dinosaurs? She’d even tried to sacrifice herself. What else could her clan ask of her?

She looked to Mattu.

“It is in her right to challenge you,” the powwaw said.

Why wasn’t he pulling Chimmus off to the side? Trying to talk her down. It was almost like he wanted this to happen as well.

“Chimmus, please, think on this overnight.”

“To the death,” Chimmus hissed.

Appie looked to Mattu again, but again he shrugged. “It is the challenger’s right to choose the manner of the challenge.”

This was crazy. Certifiable. She looked to Drake who seemed ready to become sick. She couldn’t believe that he had any hand in this.

Appie swung around to Chimmus. She wasn’t all that worried about the challenge. Chimmus was a strong but impulsive fighter. Her technique was poor from lack of diligence in training and while ferocious, the girl had little stamina.

Setting her feet apart, Appie nodded. “Then a challenge it is. Right now, I take it?”

This was ridiculous. They had known each other since they were toddlers. Playing with stick swords until Mattu made then come in for dinner.

Chimmus nodded. Of course now while Appie was still fatigued from the battle that saved the clan while Chimmus hid in the camp. Nice and rested.

Putting her hand out, Mattu gave her a short sword as Pipo gave Chimmus a matching one. This fight would be even. At least, in weapons.

“The challenge begins,” Mattu said.

* * *

Drake felt physically ill. How had it come to this as Chimmus yelled, rushing toward Appie who stepped aside, knocking Chimmus’ blade away harmlessly.

This was all his fault. If only he had spurned Chimmus from the beginning. If he told her straight out he wasn’t interested, then she wouldn’t have concocted this bizarre notion about bonding with him.

Chimmus pivoted and came back around, connecting an elbow with Appie’s back. The girl stumbled forward, having to catch herself with her hands, giving Chimmus the opening she needed to bring her sword to bear, but instead of hitting flesh, she hit metal as Ruby rushed between them, blocking Chimmus from taking the fatal blow.

Then Lev was there. Then Tonka and finally the T. Rex leaned over the match, putting his giant snout in the way.

“This isn’t fair!” Chimmus cried, trying to get through the robots as Appie got herself up and dusted off. “It is approved weapons only.”

“This is true. You can have no defenders, Appie.”

“Trust me, I didn’t ask them to do this.”

“Then call them off.”

Appie snorted. “Yah, right, look how well that’s worked with Ruby.”

Mattu glared at the Shawnee and she sighed.

“Shoo, get,” she said, waving them off. Drake wanted to do the opposite. He wanted to keep the robotics right where they were, between Appie and Chimmus’ blades.

Finally, the metal creatures backed away, fleeing in the face of Appie’s urging. Then Chimmus jumped in, taking advantage of Appie’s distraction, swinging her blade high and fast.

* * *

Trust Chimmus to always take the easy route. Appie stepped aside, putting her foot out tripping the girl as she came in for the attack. It wasn’t eloquent, but it was effective. Chimmus stumbled, overshooting her lunge by a few feet.

Appie’s previous “fall” had been a feint. The animals hadn’t saved her, they had interrupted her ploy to lure Chimmus in and expose her midriff.

Chimmus hit the line of the clan and bounced off of them, turning with murder in her eyes. She clutched her weapon too hard. Not listening to the hours of training Mattu tried to instill in the both of them.

Whereas Appie held her weapon lightly, keeping it in balance and ready to switch positions if necessary. She allowed Chimmus to charge, head first as she always did, thinking that speed would win the day.

This time, Appie clashed swords with the younger girl. They thrust and parried around each other. The clan surged around them. Backing if they came too close. Approaching if the battle flowed in the other direction.

Appie let Chimmus tire her arms out. The girl just wasn’t that strong. Wielding the short blade for this long and this hard, her muscles were going to give out soon.

And as the minutes progressed, Chimmus’ attacks became weaker and weaker. Her reaction time lengthened. The girl was tiring. Her foot slipped and Chimmus barely caught herself before she landed on her butt.

Still, Appie did not launch into her attack. Chimmus was also smart and might be trying to lure Appie in.

So the fight went on. Appie stayed on the defensive. Watching Chimmus’ swings long before she swung them, dancing out of the way. She’d taken minimal damage except to her pride during the encounter.

“Fight!” Chimmus growled.

Wouldn’t you like me to, Appie thought but did not voice. Instead she kept just out of reach, forcing Chimmus to take greater and greater risks to land a blow. Chimmus threw a round kick then came back with an overhand swing. Appie fell for it, coming in for a parry, except Chimmus didn’t finish her swing. Instead she threw a fairly good right hook, snapping Appie’s head back, spraying blood from her nose.

Appie dabbed her face with her sleeve. Not like she hadn’t bled before. At least it didn’t feel broken.

“You punch like a girl,” Appie said and got the expected Chimmus furious response. The girl launched, heedless of the danger.

Appie ducked, came up with a punch to the solar plexus. As Chimmus struggled to breath, Appie threw a left hook, probably dislocating the girl’s jaw. Appie didn’t stop. She used the hilt of her sword and slammed it against the side of Chimmus’ skull. The crack was audible. A collective gasp went up as Chimmus staggered, falling to the ground, holding herself up on one elbow.

She kicked the girl’s elbow out from under her, knocking Chimmus flat on her stomach.

Appie raised her sword ready for the keening blow, but Drake rushed forward, grabbing her arm.

* * *

“No!” Drake shouted keeping Appie from stabbing Chimmus. “Please, please, don’t kill her,” he begged. “This is partially my fault. Please, isn’t there another option?”

“She chose this,” Appie hissed through gritted teeth.

“I know, I know, she did, but please, I beg you, don’t kill her.”

Appie’s eyes narrowed, but she seemed to be listening. Luckily the blood lust didn’t seem to be in control any more. She lowered her sword, pointing it away from Chimmus.

“The powwaw can call the match if either combatant is too injured to fight,” Appie stated.

“That does take away the ‘to the death’ part,” Mattu answered.

“But it’s an option?” Drake asked, suddenly hopeful again.

Mattu nodded. “The victory goes to the Shawnee. The challenger will be banished.”

“No!” Chimmus screamed as Appie put her foot over the girl’s neck.

“I can kill you now, Chimmus, what shall it be?”

“Chimmus, please, take the banishment.”

The girl’s eyes were filled with un-spilt tears. Her face scrunched up in anger, but she did not ask for Appie to finish her.

The Shawnee pulled her foot off of Chimmus’ neck. “You are hence forth banished from the Tucker clan. You will walk from here with the clothes on your back and nothing more. You can never reenter our camp or marry into our clan. Forever more we shall never speak the name Chimmus.”

Drake knelt down and helped Chimmus up, but the girl threw off his help.

“You should be happy, I am dead to you now,” Chimmus commented.

“No,” Drake said as she passed by. “No, you aren’t.”

The girl snorted and headed out into the snowfield.

Drake couldn’t believe this is how it ended. That they would just kick her out like that. Of course it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to challenge the leader, but she was just a kid. Younger than himself and Appie.

He rushed up to Mattu. “Isn’t there a ‘get out of jail free’ card?”

Mattu frowned. “I know of no such thing.”

“I mean, isn’t there some way for Appie to forgive Chimmus? Let her stay?”

Mattu shook his head. “The law is the law.”

“But laws exist for reasons. Clearly, Chimmus was distraught. She made a bad call. Isn’t there some kind of do over?”

Mattu’s eyebrow went up. “Would you rather have Appie dead or banished?”

“No, of course not,” Drake spat. “This just seems so…harsh.”

“That is our life, boy, you had best get used to it.”

* * *

Appie cleaned her blade after she had changed her clothes. Pipo had taken them to clean the blood out of them. Her head hurt, but her heart hurt worse. Chimmus was always needling her, but Appie feared how much she would miss the younger girl.

Her arms were like lead. She could barely lift them to wipe the blade. For perhaps only the second time in her life she wanted to crawl into her bedroll and never come out.

In her darkest hours, she turned to Chimmus. The girl would always tell it to her straight. If Chimmus thought Appie had tried her hardest, no matter the consequences, then Appie felt relieved. Who would fill that role now? Mattu, while brusque, would at times temper his answer since she was the Shawnee.

No one should suffer banishment over love sickness. How she wished she could go back and convince Chimmus not to challenge her. Now it would set an impossible example if she allowed Chimmus to come home. It would give fuel to those who might wish to challenge in the future. If they thought there would be no consequences they would challenge with foolhardy speed.

“May I come in?” Drake asked from the other side of her tent.

Appie wanted to say no, but that wouldn’t be very hospitable for a newly elected Shawnee, now would it? “Yes.”

Drake walked in, head down. He looked like he had been crying, a lot.

“I am so sorry,” he said.

“Do not be,” Appie said, although it might have sounded more like a snap. “Chimmus made her choice.”

She had been trying to convince herself of that the past hour.

“I should have told her I wasn’t interested at all, but I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”

Appie cocked her head. “Not at all? Because you two seemed close in the truck. Your hand on her thigh.”

She wasn’t going to mention it, but he had brought it up.

“No, she was holding my hand there. Her grip is like a Syn’s I’m telling you.”

Appie’s eyes narrowed. “You did not sleep with her in the truck?”

“Yes, but slept is all we did. I swear.”

“Most men would not have declined such an offer.”

Drake blushed, kicking some non-existent rock with his toe. “I… I… I haven’t…”

‘At your age?” Appie asked genuinely surprised.

“In my world you aren’t legally able to marry until you are eighteen.”

“Eighteen?” Appie chuckled. “I’d be run off if I’m not bonded after this year’s gathering.”

“So you are engaged?” Drake asked.

“No, I have no intended, but I better find one elsewise I will no longer be Shawnee.”

“There’s a law that you have to marry?”

“A law? No,” Appie explained. “But a Shawnee must live by example. I have been a virtuous girl, but now I must become a woman, marrying, raising a family in harmony.”

“Oh,” Drake said, looking down again. “And when is this gathering?”

“In two months.”

“Oh,” he said again looking about as cute as a boy could with tear streaks down his face. Appie had truly thought that Drake was as taken with Chimmus as Chimmus was with him. If he wasn’t…

Appie couldn’t allow herself to think that far ahead. The boy had just woken up in a different century. The chance that he would choose her out of all the other girls at the gathering were slim to none.

Drake lifted his face. “Again, I am so sorry.”

“Seriously, you don’t have to be. Chimmus would have found something else to challenge me over,” Appie reassured him. “The girl was not content at being just a tracker when she was knee high. The girl was destined to challenge me.”

Drake breathed out. “I can’t tell you how much better that makes me feel.”

She was glad that one of them could feel less responsible. Just because Chimmus was going to challenge her, didn’t mean that Appie was any less sad about it.

“I’m not sure if you are up for it, but I brought over the video player,” Drake stated. “I’ve got Jurassic Park 3 primed and ready?”

Appie chuckled. “I think I’ve had enough of T. Rexes for the day.”

“Then Star Wars?” Drake offered. “You can see where I got that rad move?”

Appie couldn’t resist. She plopped down on the floor beside Drake while sending off one last hope that Chimmus would eventually find her way.

EPILOGUE

Durnag felt he was seeing through a layer of gauze. He could barely hear, but he should consider himself lucky, given he was just a head.

And he would only be that for a very short period of time. Once his soldiers delivered him back to the Council, he knew that he would be melted for scrap metal. This failure could not be forgiven, so he best enjoy the minutes he had left.

He would not regret his decisions. They had been sound at the time. The Tucker girl simply had better luck, a tangible, mathematically proven phenomena. And when luck came into play, there was seldom anything anyone could do about it.

“Sir,” one of his soldiers said. Durnag squinted trying to make out the synthetic before him. There was another shadow beside him.

“Yes?”

“A human has turned herself in.”

Durnag snorted, nearly knocking himself over backward. “A human coming to a Syn camp?”

“Yes,” a young feminine voice said. Even though he didn’t have his sacral hard drive, Durnag was still able to match the voice to his clan database.

“Chimmus?”

“I have come to offer my help.”

“For?”

“Killing Appie.”

Durnag had to make sure that he was still functioning and not having some kind of post-traumatic fantasy. Bringing a live member of the clan might be the only thing that could save his existence with the council.

“Why would you do that?”

“She had me exiled. I owe her a debt I want to see repaid.”

Humans. Their ability to carry a grudge was perhaps the biggest surprise. The human saying was “dog to a bone,” but he’d never seen a dog cling to a bone for decades as humans could to a grudge.

“I want to see the council,” Chimmus stated.

Durnag laughed. “And why would they ever deign to see you?”

There was very little the council cared about. And the politics of a human clan? Not much at all.

“I know where this year’s gathering will be held.”

Except possibly that.

AFTERWORD

Thank you so much for going on this journey into our future, no matter how messed up it is!

If you enjoyed Appie, Drake, Mattu and of course Ruby, please go back to Amazon and leave a review. Indie Authors live and die by their reviews!

I’d also like to ask that if you find any typos/errors to please contact me directly. Even though this and all of my books have been put through a gazillion rounds of edits, we are all just human. It really helps if you catch anything to email me at authormccray@aol.com

Want to know the exact moment any new book of mine is new going live?

Want more of Appie and her clan? Don’t worry there will be plenty of dinosaur/robot action to go around in the Cretaceous Crisis will be added exclusively to the Our Future. Our Fault collection Fall 2014!

Can’t wait until then? Check out the next section for more thrills!

Other Works by Carolyn McCray

The “Our Future. Our Fault,” post-apocalyptic thriller series

Buy purchasing the collection now, you get the prequel and bridge short stories, and later as the rest of the trilogy is launched, you get all additional books for NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE. That’s right, buy now, get all the rest for free! Get the collection right now specially priced at $3.99! Buy it before Cretaceous Crisis’s launch when the collection goes up to $5.99!

Praise for the Our Future. Our Fault Collection…

“The only thing I knew about this book was that it was going to have dinosaurs in it and it was going to be great! Ms. McCray did not disappoint! A book like no other it brings the past and future together and let's throw some humans together and you've got another great book to read! Dinosaur books are not exactly my favorite to read, but i found myself not wanting to put my kindle down until I found out what happened. Action through the whole book with a whopper of an ending! Never expected that! Can't wait to read the next book of this series.”

Candice

Amazon Reviewer

“Carolyn McCray has come up with another interesting story. Robots, dinosaurs and man all trying to survive on the same planet. Could it get any better? Can't wait for the sequel!”

Bjrcook

Amazon Reviewer

Currently included in this collection…

Tipping Point
the prequel short story to The Our Future. Our Fault. Thriller Series

Neo-Jurassic
the first book in the Our Future. Our Fault Thriller Series

Syns of our Father (exclusive to the collection)

the bridge short story between Neo-Jurassic and Cretaceous Crisis

Cretaceous Crisis (will be added to the collection at NO extra charge Early 2015)

the full-length sequel to Neo-Jurassic

Natural Selection (will be added EXCLUSIVELY to the collection at NO extra charge Early 2015)

the bridge short story between Cretaceous Crisis and Mesozoic Maelstrom

Mesozoic Maelstrom (will be added EXCLUSIVELY to the collection at NO extra charge Summer 2015)

the exciting conclusion to the Our Future. Our Fault. Thriller Series

New Avalon (will be added EXCLUSIVELY to the collection at NO extra charge Summer 2015)

the short story “wrap-up” to the Our Future. Our Fault. Thriller Series

More praise for the Our Future. Our Fault Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Series…

“I have no idea what kind of whacked-out imagination it takes to come up with a story line like this, but I wish I had one! McCray does a fabulous job drawing you into the story, making you believe some pretty unbelievable stuff! And her research is impeccable. A must read. I can't wait for the sequel!”

Peter M.

Amazon Review

Remember by purchasing the collection at the exceptional low price of $3.99 right now you will get all remaining books (Cretaceous Crisis, Natural Selection, Mesozoic Maelstrom and New Avalon) in the trilogy for NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE. Get the collection now before it goes up to $3.99 upon the launch of Cretaceous Crisis this summer!

* * *

The Apex Predator Thriller Series

Praise for the Apex Predator Thriller Series…

“Salechii will make your heart race with fear. It'll make you nervous and scared of what unknowns lurk in the ocean depths. Ms. McCray describes the beautiful new Shark Park that is guaranteed to take your breath away. But with a name like Shark Park, you know something bad is going to happen. Only bad is an understatement, complete horror takes place…”

Christi Bilbo

Amazon Reviewer

“I found this book to be a mix of all the features I love in Carolyn's books.  There's humor, a touch of romance, mystery, gore, thrill, excitement, happiness and sadness.  It's even educational because I learned quite a lot about sharks.  I definitely recommend this book, it's a keeper.”

Dragonroses

Amazon Reviewer

Currently included in this collection…

Bullies
the prequel short story to The Apex Predator Thriller Series

Salechii
the first book in the Apex Predator Thriller Series

Open Water*exclusive to the collection
the bridge short story between Salechii and Shark Station Nyet

Shark Station Nyet*exclusive to the collection
the full-length sequel to Salechii

Churn*exclusive to the collection
the bridge short story between Shark Station Nyet and Shayu

The Shayu Situation (will be added EXCLUSIVELY to the collection at NO extra charge Winter 2014)

the exciting conclusion to the Apex Predator Thriller Series

Blood in the water (will be added EXCLUSIVELY to the collection at NO extra charge Winter 2014)

the short story “wrap-up” to the Apex Predator Thriller Series

* * *

The Betrayed Omnibus Series – Carolyn’s extremely controversial historical thriller series

Have you read the entire Betrayed series? From the prequel short story, Ambush to the post-Shiva EXCLUSIVE short story Mayhem?

Want them all in one place? Check out The Omnibus Collection - it is a $19.00 value for just $9.99!!!

Praise for the Betrayed series…

“Carolyn McCray’s 30 PIECES OF SILVER proves that Dan Brown’s crown is up for grabs. Part minefield and all roller-coaster ride, here is a story as controversial as it is thrilling. Hunker down for a long night, because once you start reading this book, you won’t be putting it down.”

NYT Top Ten Best Seller

James Rollins

Devil Colony

“With twists and turns galore the pace of Havoc never slows down, you are propelled along like an avalanche. Havoc is an accomplished thriller. I sort of hate to use the word “interesting” which sounds like a book report, but this novel IS interesting as well as being a great read.”

P.B.Sharp

Amazon Reviewer

The collection includes…

Ambush
the prequel short story to 30 Pieces of Silver

30 Pieces of Silver
the extremely controversial historical full-length thriller that started it all!

Targeted*exclusive to the Omnibus Collection
the bridge short story between 30 Pieces of Silver & Havoc

Havoc
the stirring full-length sequel to 30 Pieces of Silver

Covert*exclusive to the Omnibus Collection
the bridge short story between Havoc and Shiva

Shiva*exclusive to the Omnibus Collection
the bombastic full-length conclusion to the Betrayed series!

Mayhem*exclusive to the Omnibus Collection
the “wrap-up” short story to finish out the first cycle of the Betrayed series

Caught
the prequel short story to the 2nd cycle of the Betrayed series featuring Davidson, Bunny, & Lopez

More praise for The Betrayed Series…

“I am hooked on this series …a great mix of religious history, action, and old fashion love. I know there is a sequel. I can nearly wait.

Niecy733

Amazon Reviewer

* * *

The Robin Hood Hacker Series – Carolyn’s action packed techno-thriller series

Praise for the Robin Hook Hacker Series…

”Writing a successful sequel is never easy, but in this case Carolyn McCray nailed it! Non-stop thrills and action combined with great new gadgets and more bad guys. Lost in all of this is the witty and humorous dialogue as well as the character development and the blossoming romantic relationships. If that was not enough, she also left us hanging and wanting more. Bravo! Cannot wait for the next installment. Definitely 5 stars.”

Romano Rubusto

Amazon Reviewer

“From the moment I started reading this book, I was in awe. Encrypted is action packed from the first sentence. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. From hackers, special agents, to the plague, you won't be able to put this one down until the end!”

Book Goddess

Book Reviewer

Included in the collection are…

Hacked
the prequel short story to The Robin Hood Hacker Series

Encrypted
the techno full-length thriller that started it all!

Binary*exclusive to the Robin Hood Hacker Collection
the bridge short story between Encrypted and Cipher

Cipher*exclusive to the Robin Hood Hacker Collection
the stirring full-length sequel to Encrypted

Zeroes*exclusive to the Robin Hood Hacker Collection
the bridge short story between Cipher and Code

Code*exclusive to the Robin Hood Hacker Collection
the bombastic full-length conclusion to the Robin Hood Hacker series!

Ones*exclusive to the Robin Hood Hacker Collection
the “wrap-up” short story to finish out the Robin Hood Hacker series

More praise for the Robin Hood Hacker Series…

“I've read all the books and this box set is amazing value. Whether you're a fan of action, suspense, techno thrills or its outside you're normal reading patterns, I would definitely recommend this set as the series has something for everyone and will blow your mind...I didn't know what to expect but I got an exciting roller coaster read that was fast paced and thoroughly enjoyable. Hence, I couldn't stop reading the rest of the series! Do yourself a favour, save yourself some time and money by buying the set.”

Kizzle79

Amazon Reviewer

About the Author

Carolyn McCray

Carolyn has had a long and extremely interesting road to become a bestseller.

When she head to veterinary school those many years ago she had no idea decades later she would be writing controversial historical thrillers, gut wrenching mysteries and roller coaster-style action/adventure tales!

Born in San Francisco and raised in the beautiful Napa Valley, Carolyn always had an overactive imagination. As a child you could usually find her dragging the neighborhood children out to the haunted barn to make her Nancy Drew-style audio tapes. Oh and did she mention, there was an entire life-sized recreation of the nativity scene in the rafters? Yeah, that wasn’t just a little creepy.

Which of course was great practice for writing such blockbusters as Plain Jane: A Patterson-style thriller with a dash of Hannibal and 30 Pieces of Silver: An Extremely Controversial Historical Thriller.

With over 500,000 books sold, Carolyn now lives on a beautiful lake in the Pacific Northwest where the fog rolls in over the water, snuffing out all signs of life around her. Yep, she still loves the creepy!

Table of Contents

Copyright

Main Menu

NEO-JURASSIC: The 1st full-length book of the post-apocalyptic thriller series, Our Future. Our Fault

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 15

EPILOGUE

AFTERWORD

Other Works by Carolyn McCray

The Apex Predator Thriller Series

The Betrayed Omnibus Series – Carolyn’s extremely controversial historical thriller series

The Robin Hood Hacker Series – Carolyn’s action packed techno-thriller series

About the Author

Contact Information

Contact Information

Carolyn McCray can be found…

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