Trespasser: New Beginnings - Chapter 7

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Trespasser: New Beginnings - Chapter 7

Post by Sk8er »

Here's Chapter 7! Enjoy! :)

Chapter 7: The Harbor

Anne peers out into the hall, and her heart begins to race. A raptor is standing in the hall, sniffing the door of another room. She glances past it, seeing Marquez peering out of one of the doors at the far end. The raptor snarls, and she sees him disappear.

She ducks away, as the raptor starts walking towards the room she’s in. She looks around the room, and walks quickly over to the desk. She crouches behind, feeling the pressure of one of the chair legs digging into her back.

She listens, as the raptor enters the room.

Oh God. This is it Anne. There’s no escape this time.

The raptor’s toe claws click against the ground as it walks, sniffing the air. It hisses lightly, and Anne wonders how it had followed them.

They’re too smart…

The raptor stops, looking at the desk. It snarls, and Anne braces herself. Her hands wrap around the chair legs, and she gets an idea.

The raptor charges at the desk, but Anne is up. The raptor starts to jump over the desk, when the chair crashes into its head. The raptor shrieks, falling to the floor. The chair falls apart, and Anne grips only one chair leg.

She throws the chair leg at the struggling raptor, and tries to overturn the desk on the raptor. But she gives up; the raptor starting to regain itself.

Anne rushes towards the door, hearing another shriek and the scraping of claws against wood as the raptor gets up. She reaches out, closing the door, and continues down the hall. Behind her, she hears the door crash, as the raptor goes head on through it.

It snaps, lunging. Marquez is at the staircase, and Anne shouts, “Go!”

He starts to run down, as Anne reaches the top. Anne turns for a single moment, hearing a crack below her. The raptor lunges again, its jaws just inches away as it closes, and Anne feels surprisingly light.

Her entire body crashes through the wood, and she inhales years of dust as she falls. With a brief flash of pain, Anne lands on her back on the ground. She coughs, feeling vomit begin to rise up in her throat. She screams, as Marquez grabs her beneath the shoulders and pulls her towards the door.

She glances up at the gaping hole in the ceiling, and at the raptor that is peering down, snarling. Marquez yanks open the front door, and Anne feels the cool outside air press against her as they run out onto the porch.

They return to the path, and begin to run towards the wooden fence. Marquez yells, “We can’t go back. There’s probably more.”

Anne asks, “We have to climb it, right?”

Marquez only nods, as they run. As they near the fence, Marquez is the first to jump. His hands grip the top of the fence, which is a bit shorter than the others. Easier for a human to climb.

Anne jumps up next to him, feeling the wood grind against her as she pulls. Marquez doubles over at the top, flipping over onto the other side. For a second there is silence, and then: “Come on Anne!”

Anne feels the top of the fence dig into her stomach, before she too flips over the other side. Marquez partly catches her. “Hurry,” he says, standing her up. “They’ll probably get on our trail soon. Are you alright, after that fall?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Luckily. It could’ve been worse. A lot worse.”

Around them the forest is dense, and there is no path to follow. They leave the fence behind, moving away as far as possible. The forest is quiet, and they keep it that way, talking at a minimal rate.

Anne finally stops, and asks, “Here that?”

“What?”

“A stream, or something.”

“Where?”

“I’d say,” Anne says, looking off to the left. “Over there!”

She starts jogging, with Marquez behind her. They pass out of the trees into a large clearing. There are several fallen logs in the distance, and several odd boulders huddled on the ground around them.

Nearby Anne sees a stream, running lightly across the ground. Pebbles line the bottom, and she walks over, cupping some in her hands. She splashes it over her face, and then drinks some. “It tastes clean. Have some Marquez.”

“Ok,” Marquez says. He leans down next to her. Anne looks up, across the stream, which is about a foot across. Several yards from the stream is one of the boulders.

“Isn’t that weird?”

“What?”

Anne points to the boulder. “Those. They’re covered in—plates, or something. And they’re huge.”

“Maybe we should get going.” Marquez says. “Maybe they aren’t boulders. Boulders don’t look like that.”

Anne starts to get up, when a grunt comes from the forest to their right. They watch, as an odd creature walks out of the forest. It walks on four, stubby legs, and has a small head attached to a short neck. It’s covered in plates, with two rows of spikes along its body. The bulk of the creature tapers into a tail, armed with a thick club at the end. It walks slowly, grunting.

Marquez asks, “What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

As it shuffles towards one of the boulders, Anne and Marquez are startled, when the boulder moves. As the boulder begins to curl open, standing up, they realize it is another one of the creatures. It’s larger than the first, maybe thirty feet or more, but has the same features.

One by one, the animals that they had thought were boulders begin to curl open, standing up and grunting. Anne says, “Look.”

She points at several nests, where the animals had circled upon. They were built up on a small little rise near the logs, and Anne tried to count the eggs in each nest.

Although Anne and Marquez didn’t know it, the creatures were Ankylosaurus. The four legged Cretaceous dinosaurs seemed like cows to Anne, as they begin hobbling about. The grunts lessened, as a series of low-pitched sniffs sounded from the opposite side of one of the logs.

“Babies.”

Anne tried to get across the stream, to see them, but Marquez pulled her back. “They could be dangerous.”

“They’re herbivores. They wouldn’t do that.”

“I thought you said you didn’t know what they were.”

“I don’t, but look at them. They’re not carnivores.”

“Anne, just don’t.”

They watched as the nearest dinosaur, the one several yards from the stream, moved. Its head rolled towards them, and Anne watched an eye slowly cracked open. It stared straight at them.

Its mouth opened, and Anne laughed as its tongue lolled out. Anne laughed. It got up, still staring, and after a brief moment, grunted. Several others turned, looking at them, and started to circle. They backed against the eggs, and the babies, grunting.

Their tails waved back and forth, like they were ready to swing if these two creatures moved forward. Marquez said, “Anne…”

“What?”

“I think it’s time to go now.”

-----

Anne and Marquez had been walking through the forest for around ten minutes, the images of the herbivorous dinosaurs back in the nested clearing locked in Anne’s mind. It was too amazing.

Absolutely amazing.

Marquez led by several feet, and every once in a while Anne heard a chirping sound, like the sound of a bird.

“The forest thins up ahead. There’s sand,” Marquez says.

Anne sees that he’s right. The dirt fades away slowly into sand, and the trees become spaced apart. Anne says, “We must be getting cost to a beach, or something.”

“I think you’re right.”

Anne hears the distant crash of waves, and soon they step onto patches of grass, trying to grow amongst the sand. The trees, Anne realizes, have turned into groves of palms, splayed out in the bushes across the new landscape.

Ahead they see the side of a large warehouse, and they start to jog. As they near, Anne can see the faded metal of the exterior of the building. Marquez says, “You were right. It’s a beach.”

They move around the building, passing by a large set of open double doors. They look past it, at a large dock running out into the ocean a while down shore, and the shape of a boat near the end. They continue around the building, and see that the space in-between the dock and the warehouse is occupied by another warehouse, and several bungalows. On the sand, in piles and alone, are more crates, and several hollow drums.

Anne points out to the boat, “You think it works?”

“Maybe,” Marquez says. “But with the way this day is going, I have a feeling…” He trails off.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

They walk quickly past the bungalows and second warehouse. Marquez stops once to inspect a stack of crates, before moving on. When they reach the dock, Anne looks away, to her left. The sand forks away into the palms again, and at the fork there is a sign, but she can’t read it. She can only make out two red arrows, one pointing to either turn.

“Anne, come on.”

While they walk down the dock, towards the boat, Anne says, “I think this is some sort of harbor.”

Marquez doesn’t say anything. He has one hand near his waist, and she watches as he slowly returns it to the front. He’s staring at the boat.

“What is it?”

“Just look at the boat.” He curses.

Anne walks ahead, gazing down at the stern of the boat. It’s some sort of trawler boat, and quite big. The entire deck is empty, the stern sinking down into the water. The bow is pointed up, rising a few feet out of the water. The cabin tower stares at them blankly through dirty, weather-stained windows.

Marquez says, “Figures.”

Anne slumps. “We’re never going to get off this island!”

“Anne. We will, just give it time. There’s a way off. We’ll find it.”

Anne nods, as Marquez says, “Let’s go back.”

They walk in silence back down the dock, and Anne gazes back at the trawler. It seems to grow smaller as they walk, and within moments they’re back on sand.

Thump.

The sound echoes towards them. It’s quickly followed by another. Marquez says something in Spanish. Anne looks across the beach at the fork, and something catches her eye on the right road. Within seconds after, she sees what it is.

A tyrannosaur.

Two of them.

As they reach the fork, stepping onto the beach, Anne registers that one is bigger than the other. “It’s a male and female. The male’s probably the one that was in San Diego. I think the one we saw earlier was the same male.”

She freezes up, becoming motionless. The rexes haven’t looked over at her. She whispers, “Don’t move Marquez.”

She twists her head, seeing that Marquez is already shuffling down the beach, towards the far warehouse. He raises a hand, motioning for her to follow him, and shakes her head.

One of the tyrannosaurs roars.

Anne hears the thunder of the male moving across the beach. Towards Marquez. A bellow from the female soon follows, and Anne sees that she’s following her mate.

They’ve both targeted Marquez, who is now running in front of the bungalows.

On the rexes’ side.

She watches as the tyrannosaurs roar again, charging towards Marquez. As they move beyond the bungalows, she runs behind them, on the beach side.

As she runs past the first warehouse, she sees the tip of a rex’s tail swinging back and forth near the other entrance of the second.

Marquez must be inside.

She runs towards the back entrance of the warehouse, slipping inside, onto concrete. She gasps, spinning away behind a crate. One of the two rexes is trying to get its way in through the other entrance, and its head is lowered, sniffing around.

The entire warehouse is filled with crates, and she looks up. There is an angle in the roof, raised several feet above structural posts. Several run along the width of the building, while a single one runs down the center. There is also a rim around the inside.

She hears a grunt. It’s human. Anne glances around the crate, staring at the rex. She looks around, at the crates. No sign of Marquez.

She looks back at the entrance a few feet behind her, and then looks up. She stares at the structural supports, looking for Marquez.

As she follows the center post, running lengthwise, she spots Marquez.

-----

Marquez had entered the warehouse, looking for a way to hide. The rex had slipped into the entrance, trying to push its way in. Marquez had spotted the supports under the roof, and had started to climb up the crates to get to them.

A perfect way to escape.

As he had started towards the center post, the rex had swung up, roaring. He had faltered, backing away—and almost falling—against the outlying rim. He had moved around, unable to think of risking a chance to let the rex see him if he had tried to go the second exit.

Marquez had moved into a corner, and had slowly made his way above the rex. He griped the tin wall behind him, standing on the foot wide structure against the wall. He had closed his eyes, sweating, and praying that the rex wasn’t going to completely crash through the wall.

Anne could see him, standing erect; pressed against the wall. The rex continued to sniff, and she didn’t understand what it was doing. It seemed to not be interested in completely getting in.

She leaned out more into the aisle running from door to door, and watched in growing horror. The rex roared, and backed away. For a moment she thought it was leaving, and Marquez slightly relaxed.

With a loud roar, the entire building shook, as the rex slammed into the building. The tin easily ripped off, allowing the rex to be able to bend down and get in. Marquez jumped, as the structural support bent. He landed a few feet away, nearly sliding off the support to the ground below. He gripped the edge, keeping himself from falling.

He got up, quickly sliding around the support. “Come on Marquez. Just make it over here,” Anne whispered.

In one single moment, the rex looked up, roaring. Marquez screamed, trying to keep going. Anne was about to yell, “Stay still!”

She was too late.

The rex crashes into the support underneath Marquez, rearing its head up. Its snout collided with his chest, and he began to slide. He landed on his side on the support, and he rolled over the edge.

-----

Marquez felt the air rush out of him as the rex’s snout slammed into his chest. He tried to grasp the support, as he rolled over the edge. His arm brushed against the skin of the rex, before he crashed into a tall pile of crates.

He continued to fall a few more feet before landing on his stomach. He rolled over, hearing the rex roar above him.

He started to scream. The rex swung its head, the massive snout slamming against a tower of crates. They seemed to tumble down at him slowly, and he saw a black gaping hole.

He thought it was the throat of the rex, bearing down on him. He reached towards his pants, fumbling, but his hands dropped, as a brilliant flash of pain raced up through his head, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

-----

Anne heard Marquez’s screaming stop. She stood in front of the back entrance, watching as the rex swung its massive head side to side. It looked like something was in its mouth.

“Marquez,” Anne whispered. “I can’t believe it.”

The rex roared, and she ran through the doorway. She screamed, looking to her right. The female was there, turning the corner. Its head turned as it roared, and Anne spun on her heels, running left. She ran towards the second warehouse, feeling the ground thunder below her as the female began to follow.

As she passed the corner of the first warehouse, she saw the male beginning to come across the gap between the warehouses towards her. It roared, as Anne darted inside the second warehouse. It was the same as the first, and she looked back, slowing for a moment.

Outside she heard the rexes, and then fell back as the entire wall to her right crashed open. The walls were extremely weak, the rex seeming to shred the thin metal easily. The rex roared, ducking in at her, as she turned, running across the warehouse to the other doorway.

She ran out into the sand, looking both ways. There was no way she could go left, without being blocked by the rexes. She turned right, running past the bungalows towards the fork across the beach.

She looked back, seeing the female appear on the beachside of the bungalows, making her way around. The male roared, hidden from view.

Anne drew close to the sign, and she could finally make it out. The red arrow pointing to the left read “River”, while the arrow to the right read “Laboratory.”

She runs down the right, glancing back to see the female trailing off behind her. The rex looks back to see its mate coming up behind it. The rexes roar, staring at her, and then disappear into the trees.

Anne slows down, continuing down the path. She realizes that much of the forest has become scarce, and now she’s surrounded by jungle. Ahead, something small runs across the dirt, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

Anne looks up at the sky. “It’s got to be around noon. This day’s felt so long, I would’ve guessed it’d be getting dark by now.”

She sighs. She couldn’t believe Marquez had been killed. Now she was alone.

Truly alone.

The dirt expands up ahead, and Anne sees that there’s grass. She hurries to it, stepping onto the grass.

She’s standing at the edge of a grassy plain. It runs down in a short descent, the plains made up by several short, rolling hills. What catches Anne’s eyes is a lengthened building below, partly surrounded by jungle. A long, gleaming river appears from the jungle to the left, running behind the building and disappearing.

At the shore of the rivers of the river, on both sides, is a large herd of the same horned creatures the raptors had brought down earlier in the morning. Past them, just short of the jungle, she saw a herd of animals walking on four legs. They had large frills on their heads, and she could make out at least two large horns curving from the top.

She knew what they were: Triceratops.

The plains looked peaceful; the grass swaying in the light breeze. Somewhere from the jungle behind her, she hears a roar.

The dinosaurs at the river froze for a moment, listening, and then resumed grazing and drinking.

Anne did only one thing.

She began to run across the plains towards the building.
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