Kingdom of Monsters by John Schneider (microsoft ebook reader .TXT) 📗

would finally come face-to-face – two marching clans of twenty-thousand-ton bombs.

And somewhere in the background, the rex still felt that little sting in the sinus – that psychic stench.

A T. rex would walk through fire to step on an Otto.

Perhaps it was a testament of sorts that the rogue instead decided to follow the light.

Josie and the pussycats filed into step beside him.

The earth trembled in homage.

Their star was just ahead somewhere, hidden by the clouds and the storm.

Chapter 46

Caesar could not be in a bigger hurry to leave these mountains.

Besides the blow stirring up, the freezing, torrential rain, and the lightning strikes, he could hear the bellows of giant rage-infected T. rex echoing through the canyons.

And if he couldn't hear them, he knew they were there anyway.

Whatever empathic link that tied them to Shanna also made them aware of each other.

He also knew the infected giants were not the only T. rex in the area.

But Caesar could evade the giants.  More problematic was the presence of at least a small pack of normals prowling about somewhere right up here on the mountain.

Even a normal-sized average adult Tyrannosaurus outweighed him.  Then to have three or four of them?

Naturally, he had to come alone, the stoic leader, delivering strict orders that his tribe stay as far away as possible.

In retrospect, Caesar might have felt a little better to have Cornelius or Zaius at his side just about now.

The little rex chasing that human had snapped at his finger like an angry turtle.  A pack of adults would attack him on sight.

Caesar would have been happy to keep his distance.  Unfortunately, he knew he couldn't expect the same from a rex – they just hadn't evolved that far.  Tolerance wasn't a necessary quality in a super-predator.

But more than that, it wasn't even really about conscious decision.  T. rex simply followed an impulse – a very basic shine.  Tyrannosaurs were very advanced for their era, having evolved pair-bonding, and the rudimentary emotional ties that go with it.

But they didn't think.  Most often, they simply followed their nose.

Or in this case, they followed their shine, no different than a moth to light.

Caesar supposed he was no different, other than perhaps the self-awareness of it.

He knew perfectly well why he was on the mountain, enduring the storm, braving the thunder and lightning.

Shanna was up there somewhere – she was hurt, and he could feel her pain.

Knowing that, Caesar presumed the rex did too.

At the very least, that would make them protective and edgy.

And for better or worse, bringing up the rear, not much further distant, Caesar knew Brutus was bumbling his big, stupid way, right behind.

A testosterone-bloated moron to begin with, Caesar shuddered at the thought of Brutus in the later stage-infection of the Food of the Gods.

He could already hear the echoing bellows trading back and forth, like marching war-horns, leading an incursion.

Brutus was clearly intending to meet the rogue rex and his pack head-on.

Caesar would very much like to be off this mountain before that happened.

Shanna was not far ahead.  Caesar had nearly reached the peak, and he could see a trundle of smoke billowing not half-a-mile away.  If he moved quickly, there should be no need for confrontation of any kind.

The big ape stepped out of the trees into the open and was greeted by a lashing of lightning and thunder.

And standing in the path, directly in front of him, was the human who had shot him.

Mark turned, greeted by the sight of the giant ape framed in the electric backdrop of the storm.

In a flash, he brought his rifle to his shoulder.

Caesar had to hand it to the hapless hominid – he had fast reflexes.

At this close range, Caesar found himself looking at a likely head-shot.  Unless he could squash him first.

Mark, for his part, didn't seem all that confident in the stopping power of his weapon, holding off on the trigger until there was no choice.

Caesar raised his arms.  Mark tensed on the trigger.

The big ape's vocal-cords struggled, as he held open his hands.

“Shaahh-Naahh,” Caesar growled.

Mark lowered his gun, staring up disbelievingly.

“Shaahh-Naahh?  Who the hell is Shaahh-Naahh?”

“Actually,” a voice said from behind them, “she's over here.”

Caesar turned to see four more humans – two of them soldiers, all with guns – separating from the brush.

The two soldiers raised their own weapons, but the human who had spoken waved his hand.

“Hold it,” he said, stepping in front of their line of fire.  He also nodded to Mark, who had already lowered his rifle, before walking up to Caesar as if to shake the big ape's hand.

“You understand what I'm saying, right?”

Caesar made the international sign-language gesture for 'yes', but the group of humans looked at him blankly.  With a grunting sigh, he simply held two fingers together in the okay-sign, while nodding his head.

“I don't believe I'm seeing this,” one of the soldiers muttered.

Caesar rose to his full height.

“Shaahh-Naahh!” he insisted.

“That's right,” Cameron said.  “Shanna.”

He pointed back the direction they had come.

“Can you help us?” he said.

Caesar again held up the okay.

Without waiting, Caesar began loping up the path towards the peak, leaving the humans to hurry along behind.

There was more than a storm on the horizon, and they didn't have much time.

Chapter 47

“A bunch of T. rex destroyed your base, General,” Naomi said.

There was a long pause from the radio.

“And who might you be, Naomi?” Rhodes asked.

“Civilians onsite, sir,” Naomi said.  She glanced at Jonah.  “Two of us.”

“Where's Major Travis?”

“He's dead, sir,” Naomi replied.  “Everybody's dead.”

There was a longer pause.

When Rhodes responded, his voice reflected a cut-your-losses calm.

“Okay,” he said.  “Naomi.  Here's the situation.  The largest bloom ever recorded has just sprouted, and if we can't stop it with a nuke, it is positioned to wipe-out the single largest surviving population of human beings left on the planet, along with the bulk of our remaining military assets.”

Rhodes gave this a moment to settle.

“You,” he continued, “are sitting at the site of the only non-corrupted nuclear asset