Struggle For Existence (The Preservation of Species Book 2), page 2
Priya’s jet-black hair was pulled tight in a knot, which made her seem even more serious than usual.
Cameron gave her a grim smile. “How do you know that alien was even telling the truth? The rest of the people might actually be on the other islands.”
“There’s no reason to think that,” Priya said. “It stands to reason that the other islands are just habitats for more animals that will want to eat us.”
“That’s why we’re using all the spikes,” Cameron said.
David picked up another wooden stake and held it in place while Cameron fed him a vine rope. She smelled of salt and pine. Moving slowly to keep from torquing his bruised ribs, he wrapped the rope around the deck and handed it back to her.
She tapped his wedding ring. “You still wearing that, Ace? It’s been months now.” She held her head close to his, her lips partly open.
He raised an eyebrow. Cameron was many things, but she wasn’t subtle. She really was beautiful, even with the scar running through her hair on one side. The fact that she was a little crazy somehow made her more attractive. Part of him wanted to run off in the woods with her.
David’s wife, Lindsey, had been on the other side of town when the pods showed up and he hadn’t been able to wait for her because a truck full of assholes had been shooting at him. Guilt soured his guts as he remembered climbing into the pod without her.
“I … I still need time.” For him, it didn’t feel like months because his pod had only opened a few weeks ago. The time disparity made his head spin.
He wondered how long he should wait before he moved on. He wondered if he would ever be ready to move on. He wanted to believe his wife had found a pod, but it felt like too much to hope for.
He felt attracted to Cameron, and yet he missed Lindsey terribly. He missed her so much, even though they’d spent their final weeks arguing.
“Take whatever time you need, Ace,” Cameron said. “I ain’t going anywhere.” She tilted her head seductively.
Priya chucked her paddle noisily onto the deck. “What else needs doing here?”
Cameron pointed to a pile of rocks they’d dragged to the beach on a woven mat. “Load those up for me.”
“Really? Sticks and rocks? Against dinosaurs and aliens.”
“You’d be surprised what you can do with sticks and rocks,” Cameron said. “And sadly, we don’t have much ammunition left.”
Priya hefted the stones into a basket on the deck, two at a time. “This is pointless. We should just let the caretaker go before more of them come here and kill us.”
“Those things are pretty reluctant to show themselves,” David said. The aliens had only been spotted a handful of times, floating overhead and rendered nearly invisible by some sort of cloaking device. “For all we know, that could be the only one there is.”
“We’re playing with fire,” Priya said. “They’re way more advanced than us.”
“Is that your scientific assessment?” Cameron asked with a mocking tone. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us that thing was alive?”
Priya grabbed two larger rocks and threw them at the basket, hard enough to topple it and spill the rest onto the deck. “I’m sorry I don’t have better answers for you. I was an astronomer. I studied the stars, not aliens.”
David looked down, uncomfortable and embarrassed. The two women had known each other before arriving here and Cameron was pushing Priya’s buttons the way Kim liked to push Barry’s. After a moment of awkward silence, he said, “It’s all right. Hell, I’m a doctor. I’m the closest thing to a biologist in the group, and I thought it was dead too.”
“It isn’t all right.” Priya swung her arm back toward the village. “Everyone expects me to have all the answers. I don’t. You sit here and mourn your wife back on Earth, but nobody seems to care that my boyfriend died less than ten days ago, gutted by a goddamn Titanis bird.”
Cameron smiled wide. “How can you possibly know the name of the species?”
“Oh, fuck off.”
Cameron crossed her arms. “I cared for Charlie too, you know.”
“That was years ago,” Priya spat. “Besides, you got to say goodbye.” She dropped to the sand and sat against the side of the raft between two spikes, her face scrunched tight.
David turned to Cameron, unsure what to say. She rolled her eyes.
“How’s everyone doing?” came a voice. Jasmine appeared at the end of the path. “Y’all been down here for hours,” she said, her words sing-song-y, as usual.
Jasmine had been one of the first people to make David and his kids feel welcome in the village, and she was always doing her best to keep the peace.
She trudged across the sand, stopping beside a pair of dugout canoes. A third canoe had disappeared, presumably taken by Randall, the asshole who’d tried to execute David by shoving him from a cliff.
Jasmine stood with her hands on her hips. “That raft looks like a giant sea urchin.”
“Anything new from the alien?” David asked, then added, “Are Kim and Barry okay?” He and Cameron maneuvered out of the crisscrossing spikes and met her on the beach.
“Our alien friend hasn’t moved an inch. Kim and Morrie are still hunkered over that flying platform, and Barry is just fine, Shug. Dee and the others got him his supper and now he’s helping build up the fire.”
David relaxed slightly. “I hope Barry is behaving for them.”
“Mostly.” Jasmine smiled, a big, beautiful smile of perfect white teeth that shone bright against the dark skin of her face. Despite the smile, she looked sad. “He reminds me of my boys, back when they were small.”
David swallowed. Everyone had left people behind on Earth. Everybody here had a story, all of them tragic. He put a hand on Jasmine’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
She clasped his hand, squeezing it. “Is Miss Priya okay?”
Cameron smirked. “She’ll be all right. She’s just having a little pity party.”
“Jesus, Cameron.” David muttered. Her hard-ass attitude sometimes crossed the line from sexy to obnoxious.
“Sorry.” Cameron shrugged, not looking sorry at all. “I got no patience for emotional shit.”
Jasmine patted David’s hand. “Why don’t you two head back to the village. Supper’s over, but we saved you some.” She lowered her voice. “I’ll go talk to Miss Priya.”
Cameron marched toward the trail. David followed her.
They stopped a quarter of a mile up the dirt path, right where Randall had shot Cameron. “I’m going to find that piece of shit,” she said.
David turned and looked back. The island he and his kids had arrived on sat a few miles offshore, just visible beyond the end of the path. “Do you still think he’s over there?”
She nodded. “It’s the closest island, and he knows his way around.”
In David’s previous life, he’d never wished anyone dead. As an anesthesiologist, his business had been saving lives. But if Cameron took a side trip to kill Randall, this place would be just a little safer for Kim and Barry. In the end, that was all that mattered.
He couldn’t wait to get back to his kids and hear about their day.
The smell of ash and charred meat permeated the forest. As they grew close to the village, hazy smoke wafted through the pines. Just outside the wall, the remains of the second Tyrannosaurus smoldered on a bonfire. Three villagers fed the flames with logs.
Cameron made a gun with her finger and fired off an imaginary shot at the dinosaur’s burning corpse.
They passed through the opening in the eight-foot perimeter wall and continued up the path between uneven rows of crops. Numerous edible plants had been found on the islands. The villagers were growing corn, several types of squash, carrots, and a bunch of starchy tubers. Unfortunately, it would be weeks or months before most of it was ready to harvest.
The common area sat beyond the fields, with benches, crude work tables, and several small campfires used for smoking meat. Reggie and Kevin stood at one of the tables, scrubbing plates and utensils from dinner. Reggie appeared to be doing most of the work, as always.
Jasmine had explained once that Reggie kept himself busy to try to forget about what had happened on Earth. When David asked what that meant, she’d clammed up.
Kevin was one of David’s patients. His ulna had been fractured in the Tyrannosaurus attack and now his arm hung in a sling. Although he wasn’t helping much with the dishes, he was still moving the arm around quite a bit, which was a good sign.
Other than those two, the village was quiet.
A pair of small sheds stood behind the common area, and beyond those, the four cabins. Now that they were down to only twenty people, there was room for everyone to sleep inside, though some, like Cameron, still preferred camping out under the trees just beyond the little creek. With a constant temperature of roughly seventy degrees and no real weather, it was easy enough to sleep outside.
“If you get lonely tonight, you know where to find me, Ace.” Cameron grabbed a plate of food and peeled off toward the camping area.
His heartbeat raced as he imagined her body under him. The desire wasn’t solely sexual. He felt completely alone and craved connection. He took a deep breath. It would be easy to slip away after Kim and Barry fell asleep.
He could do it. Part of him wanted to. Another part of him knew that he shouldn’t. Not yet. He needed more time, if nothing else.
Feeling unsettled, he walked over to the main fire pit. The alien carriage sat just beyond, in the spot where David had been tied to a wooden frame a few days earlier.
Morrie’s head drooped over the front of the carriage, his face hidden beneath his curly red hair. The poor guy needed to pace himself. He’d fallen asleep on the job.
David froze.
Kim lay sprawled on the ground a few feet beyond, her leg bent at the knee and one arm twisted awkwardly. David’s stomach rose in his throat. She didn’t look asleep.
She looked dead.
He raced over, dropped to the ground, and shook her. “Kimmie, wake up.”
Her head lolled in his arms. He tilted her face back, lifting her chin to clear her airway and pressed trembling fingers against her neck. “Come on, baby.” David’s breath hitched. She had no pulse.
He bent close, pressing his cheek against her face. Her skin felt warm, but not warm enough. He listened for her breath, holding his own. Nothing. David’s heart pounded.
He placed his hands on her chest and began compressions.
“Somebody help,” he called out, his voice thin.
Kona, their golden retriever, wandered over and whimpered. The world closed in around him.
He bent and pinched Kim’s nose, blowing twice into her lungs, then resumed compressions.
By the time the rest of the village crowded around, David had been at it for five minutes. He leaned over, convulsing with sobs, his mouth wide in a silent wail. His baby was gone.
Chapter Three
Randall Pond spent the day wandering around the beach and eating figs from trees at the jungle’s edge. He didn’t know what else to do.
He’d slept beneath the dugout canoe he’d taken from the other island, afraid a wolf-pig or one of those giant fucking birds would find him. The hilltop where he’d camped with Wayne and the others might be safer, and several times he’d started into the jungle toward it, but each time he stopped himself. The hike would take hours and that hilltop reminded him too much of Sierra and Dave and his goddamn kids.
There was plenty to eat down here, anyway, as long as he didn’t need anything besides mother-fucking figs.
He sat on the overturned canoe and looked across the sea to the other island, with that fat plateau in the middle. Earlier, a column of inky smoke had risen up until it hit some sort of ceiling, proving this was all a big fancy enclosure. Randall had been locked up plenty of times. He knew a prison when he saw one.
The thing that Dave had jumped on from the cliff had to be one of the wardens. It had been invisible until it crashed to the ground, and even then, it hadn’t really looked like anything, just a big brown blob.
Randall chewed on another fig. They’d already given him the shits, but he was hungry. What he really wanted was some meat. He pulled out his Walther P22, popped the magazine, and opened the chamber. Sadly, no new rounds had magically appeared since the last time he checked.
Randall thought back to his early days on this island. Wayne had brought a goddamn arsenal. He should have demanded a gun back then, when he had the chance. Hell, he should have taken one from Wayne while he slept. The uppity son of a bitch had been eaten by a T. rex while carrying every last gun in his stupid rucksack.
A gurgle churned in Randall’s belly. Mother. Fucking. Figs. He shuffled away from the canoe, dropped his pants, and squatted, spraying diarrhea onto the sand. What goes in must come out. If only that T. rex had lived long enough to shit out Wayne’s guns before Dave killed it.
Randall froze as the final few drops of hot liquid dripped from his asshole.
The T. rex had fallen over a cliff on this very island. He had seen it splattered on the beach a thousand feet down. This very same beach, back where it curved around behind the big mountain. Randall pulled up his pants.
The guns should still be there. Wayne had even put them in plastic bags to keep them dry on the raft ride.
He started walking. If he got those guns, his options opened up considerably. He could hunt for wolf pigs. He could kill one of those claw birds and eat the whole thing himself.
He could shoot Dave.
Dave was everything Randall hated, a rich asshole doctor with two perfect kids.
After walking in the sand for an hour, Randall’s legs were tired and his thighs were chafed. The side of the mountain crept closer to the sea, becoming a solid gray wall on his left, and leaving a strip of sand barely wider than a sidewalk.
Eventually the beach opened back up, revealing a hidden alcove dotted with palm trees. It might have been downright scenic if not for the splattered dinosaur carcass in the middle.
The T. rex lay sprawled on the pile of crumbled boulders that had broken free from the mountain above. Oklahoma roadkill never smelled so bad, not even the goddamn armadillos. Guts spilled from the dinosaur’s mouth and from a slit under its tail, which had to be its asshole. Randall had never thought about it, but it made sense. Dinosaurs had assholes too.
He reached down to his belt and pulled out the one treasure he’d kept from the village, Josh’s knife. Randall wondered what had happened to the kid. He’d left him tied up after smacking him around. The memory tasted sour. The sorry truth of the matter was that Josh had gotten in trouble while trying to impress him.
Randall shook his head and got to work. He’d done plenty of disgusting things in prison and far worse while running with The Piper. How bad could this be? At first, the knife wouldn’t go through the dinosaur’s scales, but he found a spot where its hide had split on impact. He widened the gash and sawed away.
The previous odor was nothing compared to the gut-punch that spewed from inside, so thick he could almost feel it.
After thirty minutes, Randall was covered with dark blood and a mound of organs lay piled on the beach. He didn’t care. It wasn’t all that different from cutting open a whitetail or skinning a neighborhood cat, just bigger. Cavernous, in fact. He sliced through a membrane that looked like the stomach. A hand spilled out.
Randall picked it up by the thumb, spotting Wayne’s big U.S. Army ring on the middle finger. He chucked the hand onto the pile of guts without bothering to remove the ring. Jewelry had no value here.
He found a sturdy palm frond and propped open the cavity in the dinosaur’s belly so he could crawl inside. He rolled Wayne’s head and torso over and tugged the rucksack free, leaving the man’s remains right where he found them.
Jackpot. Randall licked his lips, sticky with dinosaur blood. He placed the rucksack on dry sand and waded into the sea to rinse the gore from his clothes and hair, eventually stripping off everything until he was completely naked.
Life was starting to look pretty fucking good.
He opened Wayne’s rucksack, carefully laying the contents on a palm frond to keep them off the sand. The guns all needed to be broken down, cleaned, and inspected. There were four pistols and three semi-automatic long guns. The M1911 was missing, along with the shotgun Wayne had been holding when he was eaten. Randall would go back into the guts and look for those later. The real score though, was seven boxes of ammo. Randall was a wealthy man.
He was also hungry. That T. rex had been lying there more than a week, but he decided to risk it. Josh’s fancy knife even came with a flint.
An hour later, one of the dinosaur’s stubby arms bubbled and smoked on a spit. Life was quite fucking good indeed.
Chapter Four
“Wake up!” Sierra pounded the side of the alien’s massive body with her fist. It felt like hitting an overstuffed suitcase. “Wake up and tell us what happened.”
The creature made no response.
David cradled Kim’s head in his lap, tears flowing down his cheeks. Barry stood behind him, also crying.
“Somebody give me a knife,” Sierra demanded. She took off her white leather jacket and tossed it aside.
The entire village crowded around. Cameron handed her a short blade. Sierra leaned over the front of the creature, where its appendages protruded from a series of flaps.
“What are you doing?” Priya asked, her voice iced with fear.
“I’m going to give it a fucking vivisection.” She pressed the knife into the folds.
Cameron nodded. “Yes.”
“What do you expect it to do?” Priya asked. “They’re gone.”
“I want answers. Why did it kill them? How did it kill them?”
“How do you know it did something?” Priya asked. “How do you know it wasn’t the carriage?”
Sierra tightened her grip. “Whatever. I want an explanation. What happened?”
A shroud of darkness fell over the village. Sierra flinched, but it was only the night, dropping hard and fast the way it always did, as if someone turned a dimmer switch. Empty blackness enveloped them in half a minute.
