Trapped in Time 1: The Time Takers (24 page)

“Yes, it is!”

“Carrie, I want you to fly a mile north of the community and watch for me to swoop down at the forest.”

“What?”

Andy yelled louder, “Fly a mile north of the community and watch for me to swoop down on the forest a mile to the south. Blow your whistle and make a circle. I want you to stampede any dinosaur in the forest toward the community. I’ll do the same from the south and hopefully they’ll rush into the gates to escape.”

Carrie was amazed at the idea; but if enough carnivores flooded into the community’s walls…it just might work. The attackers couldn’t kill them fast enough. Carrie lifted higher and dove to pick up speed. She flew quickly ahead and Andy suddenly realized he hadn’t asked if anyone was hurt. Well, he’d find out later. He rose and began flying quickly north.

• • •

Semmek sat to the side of the cave entrance and tried to let his anger go. That stupid Gesseg had to go and show his presence too soon. Now his team was dead and the cave was warned about their presence. If they could have gotten inside…well, too late now. His attempt to talk to the inhabitants had failed. He looked over at the four dead men and saw the arrows sticking in them. Maybe going into that cave would have been a bad idea. He was going to need a cutter to get through that stone wheel. He looked over at Jarvey and saw he had a cutter on his belt but he wasn’t going to go into a cave that was warned. He leaned against a stone and hoped Pattinson would arrive soon with additional support.

Jarvey looked at Semmek, “What’s that noise?”

“What noise?”

“Listen.”

Semmek listened carefully and could hear the roars of carnivores in the distance. “Looks like they’re chasing a prey or something.” Semmek continued to listen and the roars grew louder…and closer. He looked down at the end of the walls close to the river and saw a large number of herbivores run past the opening. He stood up and saw that sprinkled among the herbivores were Raptors. He suddenly heard loud roars coming from the opposite direction and dinosaurs were passing each other moving in opposite directions. Suddenly, he realized the gates to the walls were open. He yelled, “GO AND CLOSE THE GATES!” Just as a massive wave of dinosaurs rushed into the clearing between the walls. He lifted his hand beam and fired at a huge duckbill running directly at him and it fell in a heap. Four Raptors jumped over the duckbill and he killed the first one but the two of them hit him and ripped his chest apart with their foot long hooked claws as they ran over him. All nine of the men were trampled or torn apart in a few moments.

• • •

Carrie flew in next to the cliff and started blowing her whistle. The dinosaurs that had rushed into the walls suddenly turned and ran out. Several of the smaller reptiles were trampled trying to get out of the gateway. Carrie landed the glider and rushed over to where Linnae and the four women were killed. Nothing remained. She looked at the sand and saw that the attackers had burned the bodies with their hand beams; the heat had fused the sand under the place where their bodies had been. Carrie pulled off her skull cap and fell to her knees and started weeping. Andy arrived a minute later, saw Carrie, and felt something hollow in his chest. He walked over to where she was and saw five bows; one of them was Linnae’s short bow. He fell to the ground and put his head between his hands and screamed.

Carrie crawled over and said over and over, “I’m sorry; I couldn’t tell you; please forgive me.” Andy shook his head and screamed his misery.

• • •

Maxus heard the roars outside and knew something had happened. He ordered the stone rolled back and he saw Andy and Carrie in the middle of the clearing. He jumped out of the entrance and sprinted to his close friend. He lifted him over his shoulder and carried him back to the cave as he screamed his anguish. Arashi and Togawa carried Carrie back to the cave. The community was in mourning and they knew they had lost their heart to the attackers.

• • •

A week passed and Andy sat in the cave entrance staring out at the forest. He had said nothing and no one could break through his thousand yard stare. It was as if he was no longer present. Maxus and Joshua tried everything to get him to respond and nothing worked. Carrie stayed in her room and wept; she wasn’t in much better shape than Andy. The community had funerals for the lost members and Andy did not attend.

Maxus sat in front of Andy speaking to him. He was not giving up on Andy and he yelled at anyone that tried to get him to leave. Maxus shook his head, “You don’t know how much we need you. You have saved us from ourselves and our enemies. I know how much you loved her but we love you, too. Please come back to us. We need your wisdom.” Andy continued to stare straight ahead and Maxus blew out a breath and began to wonder if there was no hope. Suddenly, Maxus was pushed roughly to the side as Anna put her head in Andy’s lap. Maxus was stunned at the sudden appearance of the large dinosaur and he scrambled to his feet. He heard a low groaning sound coming from Anna and then…Andy raised his hand and rubbed her on the head. Maxus heard, “I’ve missed you, girl.” Maxus waited for ten minutes and Andy finally looked up at Maxus, “How long?”

“Ten days.”

Andy looked back at Anna and said, “Give me a few moments.” Maxus stood and walked away and prayed he wouldn’t leave again. Andy rubbed Anna’s head and quietly said, “I thought there was nothing but death here…you’ve shown me there’s more. Linnae must have sent you to me; nothing else would have brought me back.” Andy put his head on Anna’s large belly and closed his eyes.

Maxus watched them and knew Andy had fallen asleep. His eyes had remained open the entire time since Linnae’s death. He spent the rest of the day enforcing silence around the groaning dinosaur and Andy. The next morning, Andy opened his eyes and said, “Bring Carrie here.”

Maxus rushed into the cave and went into Carrie’s room and found her in a fetal position. He picked her up off the floor and she yelled, “Leave me alone!”

“Andy wants to speak with you.”

Carrie stopped struggling and allowed Maxus to carry her out to the cave entrance. He put her down next to Andy and she fell back against Anna. Andy looked at her and shook his head, “You did the right thing not telling me.”

“Andy..I…”

Andy put his finger over her lips, “You saw what happened to me when I found out?” Carrie nodded. “I would have been useless; the community would have been trapped and who knows what would have happened. You were wise not to tell me.”

Carrie nodded and felt her tears, “I miss her so much.”

Andy reached over and pulled Carrie into his arms, “We both do; but now we have things we have to do and I need you fully invested in fighting for our survival.” Carrie looked at Andy as he said, “There were some of those beam weapons in your previous cave, wasn’t there?” Carrie stared into Andy’s eyes and then lowered her head as she nodded. “I suspect you never wanted to see them used against anyone ever again.”

Carrie’s voice was a sneer, “They’re the devil’s tools. I’ve seen so many die by red beams; I just couldn’t allow them into this new world.” Carrie paused and said, “In my former time, life was a constant struggle to stay alive; food was limited and nothing would grow in the nuclear wastelands. The hand beams would reach out and snuff out life faster than you can imagine. My mother and father both died trying to find food to feed me and my brothers. At the end, I was the only one in my family left alive. I was brought here just before a red beam hit me. The shooter was after the meager food I had been able to find in the rubble of my city. The only bond between those that lived after the holocaust was family. Love was forgotten and humans looked at each other as adversaries for what little there was to eat. Romance became rape and the killing of the victim to remove another mouth to feed.”

“But the beams are here now.” Carrie nodded. “We’re going back to your former cave to collect those weapons.” Andy stared into Carrie’s eyes, “You’re going to open the door for us to get them.” Carrie looked up as Andy said, “Death by a hunting arrow is just as bad as that beam; but in this world we now inhabit, we have to do whatever it takes to survive. Do you understand that now?”

“I do.”

Andy looked up at Maxus, “Gather all the leaders, now.”

Maxus rushed into the cave and in less than five minutes, all the team leaders were present. Andy looked at the Indians, “Harvey, I expect there will be another group of attackers coming from the cave north of here shortly. I need the scouts to fan out in front of them and slow them down. Use your whistles to stampede the dinosaurs if you need, but don’t allow them to get here for the next six days. Do you need more archers?”

“What are you going to be doing?”

“I’m moving a force to Carrie’s former cave and either get their permission to remove some weapons or kill everyone there and take them.”

Carrie shook her head, “How do you know they’re still there?”

“I don’t believe the Time Takers would take the time to empty a room; they might have someone else from your time sent there. They’ll just not allow anyone to open the room unless they’re from your time.” Carrie tilted her head and nodded.

Harvey said, “I’ll take fifty women with me along with some of the former Outsiders. The attackers won’t see us in our camosuits and we’ll hit and run. We’ll hold them off as long as possible.”

Andy looked at Maranda, “Do you think some of the women that came here from that cave might want to go back?”

Miranda smiled, “We welcome the opportunity.”

Andy turned to Togawa, “I’ll be taking Arashi with me but I’ll need the Samurai and Vikings to stay here and defend the community. Harvey, I’ll need you to keep them informed on your progress at holding them off so they can plan a defense if the attackers get by you. The Romans will go with me.”

Togawa nodded, “We work better individually; the Romans are a force that can withstand a charge.”

“Carrie, I need you overhead in a glider letting us know when we should go down to the clearing. We’ll work out a signal system with the cutters so you can let us know what we’re facing. I want everyone in camosuits and we’ll try to take what we want with as little loss of life as possible.”

Maxus looked at Andy, “What happens if you get the weapons?”

“We will kill every living being in that cave that sent the attackers here.”

Maxus saw the menace in Andy’s eyes and knew something had died with Linnae. “I only ask that I be present when that happens.”

Andy stared at Maxus for a moment and nodded.

• • •

Dernzak looked at his second-in-command and shook his head, “They should have been back by now.”

Rison nodded, “I told them no longer than two weeks. Something must have happened.”

“There has to be another cave south of here. I refuse to believe they were killed by the reptiles.”

“We’ve been successful against them so far; I can’t imagine them all being killed by the carnivores.”

Dernzak thought for a moment, “Take a hundred warriors to investigate. Make sure you send a runner to keep me informed.” Rison nodded and went into the cave to select the ones leaving. Dernzak wondered what could have killed fourteen of his finest warriors. He’d soon know.

• • •

Enapay sat on top of the cliff and watched the Grey Men start exiting the cave and forming up into ten units of ten men each. He saw them start moving out along the cliff wall and he stood and ran away on the path on top of the cliff. They were coming. He ran for two hours and arrived at the rope. He only knew it was there because of the hook cut into the path. The rope was covered by camomaterial and was invisible. He repelled down the cliff wall and found Harvey waiting at the bottom of the cliff. “Ten units of ten men each.”

“They don’t know about the cliff?”

“They’re marching overland.”

Harvey looked at the forest and didn’t see anyone, though he knew there were seventy archers hidden in the tree line. “Send the scouts north and meet them as they come out of the first forest. Allow them to exit the trees and hit them from behind.” Enapay nodded. “Enapay, fire your arrows and get up the ropes immediately. They’ll be shooting into the tree line and you’ll die if you’re slow getting away from those beams.”

“We will run into the forest as soon as we fire and go up the ropes before they can attack.”

“That would be good.”

Akira had walked up as Harvey spoke with Enapay and watched the runner go to assemble the scouts. “How are we going to get a shot at them? That beam has twice the range of our bows.”

“We are going to have to provide a distraction and provide cover for our archers after we take a shot.”

“Just how are we going to do that?”

“That beam does not kill anything but the bodies of all animal life. It has no effect on plants, rocks, or other non-living things. Our archers are going to have to create a barrier to get behind the moment they fire.”

“That’s all well and good but you know as well as I do that they will advance on our positions continuously firing those beams in front of them. We’ll be trapped behind our cover.”

“That’s where the distraction comes in. We’ll start herding the dinosaurs in the forest south of our location toward them. I’ll need the archers in the forest to blow their whistles and force them out into the clearing. I suspect they’ll back away from the trees long enough for us to head south.”

Akira stared at Harvey, “That sort of timing is not going to be easy.”

Harvey pointed toward the tree line, “How far can you see into that forest?”

“Not very far, but that beam will make it through any small opening.”

“So if we start piling up ferns ten yards into the tree line…”

Akira nodded, “The beams will be blocked.”

“You need to get the Outsiders and women to use their cutters and start building the wall now. We’ll set it up just inside the tree line so every archer will have a clear shot. Each archer will fire at a specific target which we’ll determine as they approach. We’ll all fire together and then use that great defensive tactic that has worked throughout human history.”