Chapter 18: Ridge Trail

  The Jayhawk banked and flew away, its rotors cutting through the fog, as it soared out over the canopy and shrank into the morning sky.

  JJ watched the aircraft for a minute. Then his rifle came back up. The front of the Visitor Center was a hive of activity. The clicking hadn’t stopped, but it was fading; eyes that had been glinting in the darkness were gone.

  Little Bear stood at the edge of the steps, his shotgun shouldered. “They’re retreating.”

  Hector kept his rifle pointed at the entrance, but his eyes were on JJ. “Think they finally gave up?”

  JJ’s jaw flexed once. “For now.”

  Loni wiped sweat off her cheek with the back of her glove. “If there are others still alive, we'd best go after them now.”

  Little Bear nodded. “She’s right, we should go boss.”

  JJ lowered his rifle a fraction and flicked his eyes over the team. “Ammo check.”

  Little Bear patted his shell carrier once. “Twenty slugs left.”

  Hector checked his magazine. “Half mag and three spares.”

  Loni lifted her pistol, popped the mag, and reseated it. “Six rounds left and four spare mags.”

  JJ nodded and pointed. “LB, you’re on point.”

  “Copy.” Little Bear said.

  “Hector, keep your eyes on the tree line. Loni, stay close.”

  Loni’s mouth twitched. “Roger that.”

  JJ keyed his radio. “Challenger, this is Muldoon. Two civiliansare extracted and inbound. We possibly have more survivors. Have J-2-zero refuel and read to go.”

  Static, then came Naomi’s voice. “Copy, Muldoon. You have a fifteen-minute window before the weather pushes a new band over the island. Better make that window, or you'll be stuck till the weather changes.”

  “Copy Challenger. See you soon, Muldoon out.”

  JJ let go of the transmit switch and gestured with his hand. “Let’s move people, we've got a fifteen-minute window.”

  Hector’s eyebrows shot up. “You think we can find them in that time?”

  “Hopefully, if they’re anyone alive.” JJ mused. “LB, find us a trail.”

  Little Bear steps backward off the stairs. JJ mirrored him, his rifle steady, walking backward just long enough to get onto the lawn, putting some distance between them and the center.

  A thin shape darted into view inside the entrance, yellow eyes blinking once. It watched them. Head tilting and jerking like a bird.

  JJ didn’t fire. He didn’t give it the noise it wanted. He just held his muzzle steady on the line between its eyes and the daylight.

  The creature made a series of clicking sounds and then slipped back into the shadows.

  Hector breathed out slowly. “Jefe, those things are freaking me out.”

  “I feel that.” JJ turned his head slightly toward the ridge trail, its sign half-swallowed by vines at the lawn’s edge. “Let’s go, we’re burning daylight.”

  Little Bear moved quickly, crossing the open grass. He crouched beside the signpost and reached up to a low branch where something bright was snagged.

  A torn strip of cheap shirt fabric, sun-faded turquoise with a tacky pattern. Still damp at the edges.

  Little Bear pinched it between two fingers, then looked down at the ground beneath it. Multiple boot prints; the tread patterns overlapping in the damp soil.

  He pointed two fingers angled toward the trail that disappeared into the fern. Little Bear rose from his crouch and took point at the trail mouth, shotgun angled down the path. He paused for half a beat, head tilted, listening. Then he stepped into the ferns.

  JJ followed, eyes cutting left to right into the green, as the jungle swallowed the last of the open lawn behind them.

  Ferns brushed their thighs like wet hands. Vines hung low across the trail and snapped back against shoulders as they pushed through. The air shifted under the canopy; it was slightly cooler and carried the damp, earthy scent of crushed leaves and rain-soaked earth. Somewhere above, something small skittered along a branch.

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  Little Bear effortlessly navigated the path before him. JJ and the others followed close behind. The jungle here was dense, almost suffocating. There was no room to react if attacked, which put them on edge.

  Hector kept drifting a half-step too far right, trying to see through walls of foliage. Loni stayed close to JJ.

  Little Bear stopped without warning and raised a fist.

  Everyone froze.

  Little Bear crouched. His free hand hovered a few inches above the ground. He leaned in, head tilted.

  Then he shifted slightly and pointed.

  Barely legible in the dirt were Boot prints. Several sets of overlapping treads mashed into damp soil. A girl’s smaller sole pattern intersecting with a broader one. Another set is cutting in at an angle.

  JJ stepped in beside him. “How many?”

  Little Bear’s voice stayed low. “At least five. Maybe six.”

  Hector leaned closer. “What? Did they all survive?”

  Little Bear glanced up once, then back to the ground. “I guess.” He pointed again. “They stopped here. Turned. Talked. Or argued.” His finger traced a jagged smear that cut across the prints. “Then someone bolted.”

  The trail ahead narrowed, and the foliage looked disturbed. Ferns bent in the wrong direction. A vine torn clean and hanging limp.

  “They went that way,” JJ murmured.

  Loni’s gaze flicked from the ground to the surrounding brush. “The girls said they didn’t see the attack clearly.”

  Hector muttered, “Hopefully we can get the full story from them if they’re still alive.”

  Little Bear’s hand shifted again. He pointed to the side of the trail where the soil darkened under a cluster of broad leaves.

  Another set foot farther up.

  “Those aren’t human. Something was following them.” JJ said.

  Little Bear didn’t answer right away. He leaned closer, then angled his flashlight so the beam skimmed the surface. The tracks caught the light.

  “Whatever made those,” Little Bear said, “it moves light.” He lifted his eyes to the trail ahead. “It wasn’t alone.”

  The canopy above them clicked.

  Everyone aimed their weapons up at the canopy. Nothing moved. The sound could’ve been a branch. Could’ve been a bird. Could’ve been a lot of things. But recent events had them all on edge.

  JJ returned his gaze to the trail. “Let’s keep it moving. We don’t have time to waste.”

  Little Bear rose and advanced ten feet, then stopped again. He crouched near a low rock half-sunk in soil. Something lay beside it, half-hidden under leaves: white plastic, scuffed and scratched.

  He reached down and picked it up.

  A Polaroid camera.

  The strap was snapped. The casing had a long crack across the front, as if it had taken a hard stomp or had been crushed under foot. The ejection port sat crooked, a half-ejected square of film was still jammed in it, bent and smeared, the image half developed, chemicals streaked across the glossy surface.

  JJ stepped closer. Little Bear held it out.

  JJ took the photo carefully between two fingers and tilted it toward the weak light filtering through the leaves. Shapes resolved slowly. Smudged faces, a raised arm.

  Evidence that they’d been there. Alive.

  Hector blew out a breath. “We'd better hurry if we hope to find them alive.”

  JJ handed the photo back. “Bag it and let’s keep moving.”

  Little Bear slid the camera into a pouch. Ten yards ahead, the boot prints changed. The trail showed where someone’s foot slipped, skidding over wet leaves, then corrected. Then the prints scattered.

  Little Bear pointed up the trail. “They’re panicking now.”

  The ground began to slope. The air thinned, carrying a faint draft. They broke through the foliage. They stood on a clearing overlooking the ridge.

  Hector pointed to the island's interior, laid out before them. “They were right, you can see most of the island from here.”

  Far in the distance, shapes moved between the trees, huge, slow, heads carried high on long, graceful necks. One lifted its head and let out a deep, carrying call that rolled up the ridge like a foghorn. It was beautiful and mournful. Loni smiled. “They were right about being able to see the Dinosaurs. Smart kids.”

  Hector snorted. “If they were smart, they’d have never come here.”

  Little Bear started forward again, faster now.

  The canopy behind them clicked again.

  Hector spun and scanned the trees. “They’re stalking us again.”

  JJ nodded. “I know. They’re keeping their distance for now. Little Bear, let’s find those kids.”