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

With a herculean grunt, Caesar caught the metal bird's tail.

Straining, one hand clinging to the rock, he held on until everybody below pulled themselves clear, before dropping the chopper with a crash.  It hit the ledge, tilting briefly, before tumbling over the edge, rolling and bouncing off the cliff wall, as it tumbled into the canyon.

The bonfire was dragged over with it, and without shelter, the sleet and the wind bore down mercilessly.  Immediately, there was the sound of a crying infant.

Shanna looked up at the big ape, who she had never met.

Congo was really all their fathers.  Caesar had his eyes.

“Take them first,” Shanna said.

As Rosa bent to secure Shanna's leg, Caesar grabbed up a startled Allison, tucking her and Lucas into the crook of his arm.  He grunted at Bud and Mr. Wilson, who exchanged glances briefly, before climbing up on the big ape's shoulder and grabbing a handful of fur as Caesar loped back up the cliff.

Allison had her eyes squeezed shut as Caesar handed her over the edge to Maverick and Garner.  Cameron and Wilkes caught Bud and Mr. Wilson by the hand, pulling them up.

Caesar turned, ready to drop back down, when a sudden roar rattled the clearing.

Standing at the edge of the forest was Trix, with her own pack of pussycats.

The rex queen stepped forward, sensing Shanna just beyond the ledge.

She did not appreciate Caesar standing in the way.

Female tyrannosaurs didn't waste time with bluster – when she moved, it was right for the throat.

The group of humans leaped aside as Caesar stood up to meet her, grabbing the big female's jaws, and wrestling her away from the others.

At the forest's edge, little sister Velma and the two unnamed daughters moved in.

Garner and Wilkes raised their rifles, looking for a shot, but Caesar growled adamantly over his shoulder.

“Shaahh-Naahh!”

And from the cliff below, Rosa's voice echoed up over the wind.

“Hey!  We're freezing to death down here!”

Garner frowned, before shouldering his rifle, and turning to the cliff.

Tumbling his length of rope over the edge, he handed one end to Maverick.

“You're anchor,” he said, turning to Mark and the others.  “All of you.  Grab hold and get ready to pull for all you're worth.”

With that, he slipped the rope around his hips and dropped over the side, sliding down, touching his feet off the cliff wall as he went.

Caesar, meanwhile, struggled to keep four T. rex occupied.  His powerful arms latched around Trix' lethal jaws, keeping her turning, using her own massive frame to shield him from the other three, as they snapped at his haunches.

Allison huddled with Lucas, her pistol drawn, looking utterly useless as the eight-ton combatants dueled right over their heads.

On the ledge below, Garner jury-rigged Shanna's make-shift stretcher, tying her off, and motioning to Rosa to climb aboard.

“Hang on,” he said, before hollering up the cliff.  “Okay, bring us up!”

The four men holding the rope grunted as one, yanking them into the air.

A hundred feet, dangling by a rope in a storm.

Trix was working her way free of Caesar's grip.

As the big ape struggled to maintain his hold, he lost his balance and stumbled.

Caesar desperately clung to Trix' jaws, pulling her with him to the ground.   There was a heavy crash as they hit the tarmac together.

But now Caesar was on bottom, and the rest of the pussycats circled in.

Behind them, Mr. Wilson reached down, catching Garner's hand, pulling them in as Maverick, Wilkes and Cameron hauled Shanna's stretcher over the edge.

Caesar caught Shanna's eye as Trix broke free on top of him, turning her massive jaws towards his throat.

In another moment, Velma and the others would pounce and the four of them would tear him apart.

Pushing Cameron and Rosa aside, Shanna sat up on her stretcher, her voice rising up into a scream.

“STOP IT!”

And they stopped.

In the breath of a moment, with Shanna's words echoing in the clearing and off the surrounding peaks, Trix paused, her jaws poised at Caesar's throat.

Sister Velma and the daughters cocked their heads like giant birds.

And down in the canyons below, with Shanna's cry bouncing off the canyon walls, the thunder of the battle rumbled to a stop, as even the infected giants paused, turning their glowing green eyes to the mountain peak above.

Even the storm seemed to hang on the moment, the very absence of thunder deafening by itself.

Cameron looked down at Shanna, wide-eyed.

“I didn't know you could do that.”

“I didn't either,” she replied, wide-eyed right back.

Shanna took Cameron's shoulder, pulling herself to her feet.  Cameron's eyes cut nervously to the blinking pack of tyrannosaurs as she led him to where Trix still had Caesar pinned.

There was a brief murmur from the others as Trix' head dipped towards Shanna's outstretched hand – and sniffed it like a dog.

“Easy, girl,” Shanna whispered.

Trix stepped away from Caesar, who rolled back warily.  The other pussycats murmured.

“Oookay,” Mark whistled through his teeth.

And at the edge of the trees, not five yards from his feet, the bushes suddenly burst like a flushed pheasant.

Mark caught the flash of miniature tyrannosaur teeth as Junior darted right past his leg over to Shanna's side, hopping up and down like an excited puppy.

Shanna reached to touch his snout and the little rex preened.

Mark glanced back at the bushes behind him.  The little sonofabitch had been five feet from his ass this time – he'd never seen a rex turn away from a target before.

Eyeing the gathered rex pack warily, Mark edged away, only to be met with a growl from Caesar, who stared down at him threateningly.

Mark jumped back, looking at Shanna.

“What's his problem?”

Caesar signed briefly, and then held up two fingers.

“He says, 'the little bastard shot me',” Shanna interpreted.  “'Twice'.”

There was a crack of thunder, breaking the brief interlude.

Down in the canyon, the rogue rumbled a brief response.

As if sparked by the crack of lightning, Garner's radio suddenly barked static.

“... this is Captain Johnson.  Come in.  If anyone can read me, come in.”

“Oh hell yeah,” Garner said, grabbing up his radio. He