Return to the Lost Level, page 19
We found ourselves staring into the face of a mother triceratops. Two frightened babies hid behind her back legs. The ground and vegetation around them was squashed flat, and littered with the fragments of egg shells.
The mother snorted again, louder this time.
“It’s a nest …”
With a throaty roar, the triceratops charged us, sweeping through the ferns with its massive head, horns whistling as they slashed the air. Kasheena leapt to one side, avoiding the onrushing beast. I wasn’t nearly as nimble. I tumbled backward, arms pin-wheeling, and fell down the hill. I cried out in pain, trying to tuck myself into a ball as I rolled uncontrollably. Rocks sliced my skin, and my knees and elbows slammed against stones and logs. I reached and snagged a sapling, but only managed to yank it out of the ground. I only stopped when I reached the bottom, and by then, I was so stunned and in so much pain that I could only lay there, gaping.
The dinosaur galloped down the hillside after me, its hooves thundering on the rocks. The beetle thrummed and buzzed, clanking slowly up the slope. The arm with the camera on the end swiveled forward and snapped a picture of the charging beast. The flash of light further enraged the triceratops, who completely ignored me and focused instead on this new threat.
Flesh and horn met silver and black steel with a tremendous crash. Incredibly, the triceratops’s horns accomplished what my sword and Kasheena’s arrows had been unable to do. They pierced the beetle’s hull. The probe shuddered and groaned, and the grinding noise returned again, louder than ever. This time, it didn’t abate. The robot attempted to use its chainsaw, but the automated arm seemed to freeze in mid-swing, as if it had locked up. The sawblade sputtered and slowed.
The triceratops dug her feet into the soil and shoved with her head. The probe’s treads spun, kicking up dirt and rocks. The two pushed each other back and forth, neither gaining much headway. Oily black smoke curled out from around the dinosaur’s horns. Groaning, the enraged mother jerked her horns free, leaving three massive holes in the beetle’s side. More black smoke belched from these, and I saw sparks flashing inside.
“Aaron!”
I sat up, wincing, and spotted Kasheena beckoning to me.
“Hurry, Aaron. This way!”
Slowly, I tried to stand, but the pain was too severe and my vision blurred. Instead, I crawled toward her. Something warm and wet stung my eyes. I blinked, wiping it away. When I looked at my palm, I saw blood.
The triceratops lowered her head and charged the beetle again. The probe responded by slapping her with one of its tentacle arms. The dinosaur shook her head, snorting in surprise and then renewed her attack. Her right horn and the barbed nub above her nose speared the robot’s side, puncturing through the hull. The beetle’s tentacle coiled around her left horn and squeezed. Cracks appeared in the bony appendage, as the horn began to splinter. Until that moment, I had never heard a dinosaur shriek. It’s a sound I’ve never forgotten.
The triceratops pushed with all her might, shoving the probe backward. Then she reared up on her hind legs, lifting the beetle off the ground. The treads spun uselessly in the air. The dinosaur shook her head savagely, and the probe slipped off her horns and crashed to the ground, landing on its roof. Saplings snapped beneath its bulk, and the ground shook. The hull crumpled, and the black smoke grew thicker.
Kasheena stretched out her hand, helping me to my feet. I winced and groaned, wiping away more blood.
“Are you injured?” she asked, her tone thick with panic. “Can you run?”
“No, but I can limp really fast. I’ll be okay. Let’s get out of here.”
Nodding, she handed me my sword. I hadn’t even realized that I’d dropped it.
“Keep up,” she said, turning toward the stream. “I don’t want to carry you.”
Despite my injuries, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
We snuck away. Kasheena had only her knife and an empty arrow quiver. I only had my knife and sword. My game bag—and the rabbits inside of it—must have slipped loose when I fell down the hill.
Behind us, the triceratops battered the smoking hulk back and forth, reducing it to nothing but twisted metal.
At last, the Chinese beetle had fallen silent.
We crossed the stream and fled through the woods, not stopping until we reached the grasslands. When we did, we collapsed on the ground, letting the sun beat down upon us. After the gloom of the forest, it felt wonderful. Kasheena cleaned my wounds as best she could, and bound the most serious cuts with leaves and grass. When she was finished, we rested for a while, holding each other close.
Eventually, we started back to the village, empty-handed but alive—and with a hunting tale to tell around the community fire.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Jason Sizemore, Lesley Conner, and the rest of the Apex Books team, and to Paul Goblirsch and the Thunderstorm Books team. Thanks as well to my valiant pre-readers, Mark “Dezm” Sylva, Tod Clark, Stephen “Macker” McDornell, and Mike Acquavella. Thanks to Mike Lombardo, Dave Thomas, Robert Swartwood, Cathy Gonzalez, and Stephen Kozeniewski. Thanks to David J. Schow, John Skipp, Kasey Lansdale, Hal Bodner, John Urbancik, Michael Bailey, Nick Mamatas, Gene O’Neill, James A. Moore, Christopher Golden and Rio Youers. Thanks to Mary SanGiovanni. And as always, thanks to my sons.
Also by Brian Keene
THE LOST LEVEL SERIES
Hole in the World
The Lost Level
Return to the Lost Level
THE LEVI STOLTZFUS SERIES
Dark Hollow
Ghost Walk
A Gathering of Crows
Last of the Albatwitches
Invisible Monsters
THE EARTHWORM GODS SERIES
Earthworm Gods
Earthworm Gods II: Deluge
Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes from the End of the World
THE RISING SERIES
The Rising
City of the Dead
The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World
The Rising: Deliverance
THE LABYRINTH SERIES
The Seven
THE CLICKERS SERIES (with J.F. Gonzalez)
Clickers II: The Next Wave
Clickers III: Dagon Rising
Clickers vs. Zombies
Clickers Forever
THE ROGAN SERIES (with Steven L. Shrewsbury)
King of the Bastards
Throne of the Bastards
NON-SERIES
Alone
An Occurrence in Crazy Bear Valley
The Cage
Castaways
The Complex
The Damned Highway (with Nick Mamatas)
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Dead Sea
Entombed
Ghoul
The Girl on the Glider
Jack’s Magic Beans
Kill Whitey
Liber Nigrum Scientia Secreta (with J.F. Gonzalez)
Pressure
School’s Out
Scratch
Shades (with Geoff Cooper)
Take the Long Way Home
Tequila’s Sunrise
Terminal
Urban Gothic
COLLECTIONS
Blood on the Page: The Complete Short Fiction, Vol. 1
All Dark, All the Time: The Complete Short Fiction, Vol. 2
Trigger Warnings
Unsafe Spaces
Other Words
Where We Live and Die
About the Author
BRIAN KEENE writes novels, comic books, short fiction, and occasional journalism for money. He is the author of over fifty books, mostly in the horror, crime, and dark fantasy genres. His 2003 novel, The Rising, is often credited (along with Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later film) with inspiring pop culture’s current interest in zombies. Keene’s novels have been translated into German, Spanish, Polish, Italian, French, Taiwanese, and many more. In addition to his own original work, Keene has written for media properties such as Doctor Who, The X-Files, Hellboy, Masters of the Universe, and Aliens.
Several of Keene’s novels have been developed for film, including Ghoul, The Naughty List, The Ties That Bind, and Fast Zombies Suck. Keene’s work has been praised in such diverse places as The New York Times, The History Channel, The Howard Stern Show, CNN.com, Publisher’s Weekly, Media Bistro, Fangoria Magazine, and Rue Morgue Magazine.
He has won numerous awards and honors, including the 2014 World Horror Grandmaster Award, 2016 Imadjinn Award for Best Fantasy Novel, 2001 Bram Stoker Award for Nonfiction, 2003 Bram Stoker Award for First Novel, 2004 Shocker Award for Book of the Year, and Honors from United States Army International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and Whiteman A.F.B. (home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber) 509th Logistics Fuels Flight.
A prolific public speaker, Keene has delivered talks at conventions, college campuses, theaters, and inside Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, VA.
The father of two sons, Keene lives in rural Pennsylvania.
For more information:
www.briankeene.com
Brian Keene, Return to the Lost Level
