Jurassic Heart, page 12
“Um … not really,” Hedlin fired again, this time the bullet was a direct hit into Rocco’s head. He dropped to the ground.
“Hedlin, this is insane,” I held up my hands. “Give me the gun and we will walk out of here.”
“Now see ... that suggestion is insane. No Dash, this is my expedition, my money, my finds. You know too much. I’m so sorry you didn’t make it.”
Upon his words he fired the gun once more. I felt the sear of the bullet as it went into my chest and the impact threw me back. I landed hard on the rocky surface of the cave.
“I could have ended it quickly for you, but you deserve to linger a little in pain. Goodbye, Dash.”
Hedlin placed the gun in his bag, stepped over Sheena’s legs and walked out, leaving me alone, bleeding and dying in a prehistoric world.
CHAPTER TWENTY
PAIGE
<><><><>
We had already made two trips back to the chamber to carry samples and store them. It was clear with no sign of any danger. After the second trip we were surprised to see that Tony and Herb had arrived, but they were alone.
“Sheena … Sheena was a hero,” Herb said. “She sacrificed herself so we could get out of the cave.”
“Dash gave me the quantum rod,” Tony added. “He wants us to be ready to go when he gets there.”
“Did he say if it would still work with the front portion of the chamber damaged?” I asked.
Tony shrugged. “He didn’t say.”
“We can’t get it ready unless we know,” I said. “He can’t be that far behind, right?”
Pedro looked down to his watch. “We’ll left a few minutes earlier than we wanted to get things ready. We still have a little over two hours.”
“We can’t go too early,” I told him. ‘We just can’t take a chance on the T-Rex returning.”
“It’s injured and scared,” Tony said. “We hit it with all the stun guns. Sheena hit it from inside the mouth.”
I closed my eyes. Carnivorous beast or not, we had no right hurting him or injuring him. It was his world, not ours. I was sure all of it would come back to haunt us.
I grew antsy with each passing minute, they seemed like hours. I felt a brief sense of relief when I saw Hedlin emerge. He looked worn and tired, staggering as he walked.
I was relieved until I saw Dash wasn’t with him.
“Where’s Dash, Rocco?” I asked.
“After the T-Rex incident, there was a cave in,” Hedlin breathed heavily as he spoke. “Dash and Rocco …” he shook his head. “I’m sorry, they didn’t make it.”
“What? No. No way.” I said.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.” I backed up.
“Paige,” Pedro called me. “Where are you going?”
“Back to the cave. I have to check. Something isn’t right.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No.” I held out my hand. “Just in case I don’t make it back. You need to get all that stuff back to our time. You need to show the world the Bronavanasaurus.”
“I can’t let you go alone,” he said.
“I won’t be. I have Jolly and we have two hours.”
“Be careful.”
I don’t recall if I responded, and if I did what I even said. I just know I tugged Jolly, together we moved at top speed back toward the caves.
I was always conscious of the time, continuously looking down. It took a little over twenty minutes to get back to the lake. There were no signs of the T-Rex or any raptors. Looking up at the cave there also didn’t appear to be any signs of a collapse. Maybe it was farther in.
We climbed up to the cave, the ground was slimy, when I saw Sheena’s legs I knew it was from the T-Rex.
Jolly grunted and pointed.
I looked up and saw Dash on the ground. Rocco’s body was next to him.
I didn’t need to be a paleontologist or a rocket scientist to know there hadn’t been any collapse. The bullet hole in Rocco’s head told me how he died.
Dash was covered in blood.
“Dash!” I raced over to him.
“Paige, what ... what are you doing here?” he asked weakly.
“I came to get you.”
“Go. There’s no time.”
“What happened?”
“Hedlin ... Hedlin shot me.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Tony has the answer in the pocket of his jeans. It’s too much to ex …” He groaned in pain. “Explain.”
“Dash, we have time. We’ll move you.”
“No. I can’t be moved. Any movement will cause the bullet to slip into my body and kill me. I can’t go.”
“Then we’ll take the bullet out,” I said.
“Paige …”
“Let me try. I have to try. I’ll make sure I have enough time to get back.”
“Fine.” He breathed heavily. “The surgical bag is over there.” He lifted his bloody hand and pointed.
I followed his direction and grabbed the red bag, bringing it back over.
“There should be a small bottle of vodka and a sealed surgical bag. You’ll need the skin stapler as well.”
It took me a minute or two to rummage through the bag until I found everything I needed, along with a flashlight. I took the scissors and cut off his shirt. There was so much blood. The wound was positioned on his left pec just to the right of his nipple.
“You may have to dig for it. I’m ready,” Dash said.
I handed the flashlight to Jolly and had him aim it over the bullet hole. After pouring vodka on the wound I dabbed with gauze. Dash winced in pain.,
“Dash … Dash … I see it,” I said. “I see it. It is in your muscle.”
“It didn’t penetrate all the way?” he asked.,
“No. I can get it. Thank God you work out and your pecs are rock hard, or you would have been dead.” I grabbed the tweezers. “Deep breath, this is going to hurt.”
I knew he was in excruciating pain. The removal wasn’t as easy as I had imagined. It was difficult getting the tweezers to grasp the shell, but once I removed it I followed his instructions on closing the wound. I moved quickly and was sure I made mistakes, but we couldn’t worry about that. Time was literally running out.
“We have to go,” I told him.
The experience caused Dash to be loopy, he couldn’t hold his eyes open.
“Dash.”
“Paige … thank you.” His eyes closed and he passed out.
I panicked. “Dash, you have to get up. You have to try to walk.” I shook him. “Dash.” I raised my eyes to look at Jolly. “What are we going to do?”
DASH
<><><><>
I remember looking up to her as she worked to save my life. Every ounce of anger I felt for Paige was forgotten in those moments and replaced with gratefulness.
I tried to stand up, but was unable to. Weak from the trauma and loss of blood I passed out again. I woke up in a fireman’s carry over the shoulders position by a cave man named Jolly, he carried me the entire four thousand, seven hundred and fourteen steps back to the time chamber.
And to think I considered myself a strong man. Who knew.
It took strength and stamina for that little man to save me.
“We have this,” Paige kept repeating to Jolly. “We’re going to make it.”
Yes, the bouncing hurt, but I swear with each breath of consciousness, I counted down those four thousand, seven hundred and fourteen steps.
Just outside the time chamber, Jolly set me down. He had reached his end with little distance left.
“How much time?” I asked Paige.
“Six minutes,” she replied, then called out. “Tony! Pedro!”
“I can walk,” I said.
“Not fast enough.”
Thump.
The ground vibrated.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Oh, no.” Paige looked around. “Hurry.”
Thump.
Tony and Pedro came barreling out of the time chamber.
“Oh my God,” Tony said. “I thought there was a cave in.”
“Obviously not,” she replied. “Get him in. Hurry. Did you insert the rod?”
Pedro answered, “Yes, but the front portion of the chamber is damaged.”
“We can get behind the midwall,” I told them. “Where the sleeping rooms are. The rod will move the entire chamber, damaged or not. Back there we’ll be protected by the time winds.”
“Get him inside, hurry.” Paige ordered.
The two men lifted me and we all raced into the chamber with Tony announcing that we needed to get behind the midwall.
The look on Hedlin’s face was priceless. The shock and disbelief as he stood by the broken front chamber window gratifying. He must have been watching the whole time.
“How many minutes?” I asked.
“Four,” Paige answered.
“Put me down,” I requested. They placed me on my feet near the mid-wall door. “Hedlin, you will pay for this.” Each word hurt to speak.
Paige grabbed onto me. “We’ll deal with this and the authorities later. We need to get behind the wall.”
Thump.
“No, I don’t want him coming. Ask him why he shot me. No ... I’ll tell you.” I cringed in pain. “I was watching the footage from when we went to see your parents. I stopped hours too soon.”
“Three minutes,” Pedro announced.
Hedlin looked smug.
“Guess what I saw?” I looked at Paige. “Hedlin and another man setting explosives. It wasn’t an earthquake that caused the cave in, it was an explosion.”
Hedlin clapped slowly.
Thump.
‘Two minutes,” Pedro announced “We can deal with this later. Move, or I will carry you in.”
“You killed my father?” Paige asked.
“Yes. It was my dig. My dinosaur discovery. I provided the information and location. Your father, the great Sterling Bronavanavanavich, stole that from me. I vowed to get it back. Now you have no way to prove what I did.”
“Do you think I’d be so stupid as to not make a backup?” I asked. “Tony has the back up.”
The shifting sound of a pistol’s engaging chamber drew my attention away from Hedlin. I looked to my right.
Herb had a gun to Tony’s head. “Hand over the footage.”
“Guess you didn’t watch long enough,” Hedlin said. “The other man was Herb. He was my right hand man. Now the big purple dinosaur will be the Rushasauraus.”
“No,” Paige said. “It’s …. Bronavanasaurus.”
The broken front of the chamber was literally an open invitation. First came the rooster style roar then, through the broken windows, the large head of the Bronavanasaurus dropped down and sank its teeth into Hedlin lifting him high into the air.
Click.
I looked to my left to see Pedro holding his phone.
There were no screams, the Bronavanasaurus swung his head back and forth flopping the lifeless body of Hedlin around until he was able to maneuver it enough to flip him into his mouth and ingest him whole.
Instantly I heard the electric sound of a stun gun followed by Herb screaming out.
Tony held the taser. “Asshole,” he yelled at Herb.
“We have to get behind the wall.” Pedro said.
“What about him?” Tony asked, pointing to Herb.
“Bring him. Let him face the music for his actions,” I said.
Tony and Pedro lifted Herb along with Paige and Jolly’s help, we then went through the door to the other side of the midwall just as the Bronavanasaurus returned, roaring once more, eyeing us through the ceiling looking for another victim.
We were saved by the whirling of the time machine. The automatic return trip kicked in. With flashes of light surrounding us we began our journey back to our time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
PAIGE
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It was the end of the world, the apocalypse, or so I thought when we stepped from the time chamber. There wasn’t a sound, it was so quiet. Not a soul was around. The dig looked as if it had long since grown over. No roped off areas, no trucks or workers.
“What the hell happened?” I asked as we started to walk.
Pedro had charged his phone in the chamber and fired it up. “I have signal. I'll call for help for Dash.”
“Can you make it?” I asked Dash. “We could run to the compound and get a vehicle.”
“That … that might be a good idea.” Dash stumbled some and sat down.
“I’ll head up to the compound house. There should be staff in the building, right?” I asked.
“I’ll go with you,” Pedro said.
“Thank you. Tony, you stay with Dash. Jolly, watch him!” I pointed to Herb. Herb’s hair stood on end and his hands were bound behind his back.
“I will. But he’s not going anywhere,” Tony replied. “Remember, we have a lot of things to unload.”
I nodded and head to the compound house. I was fearful of what we’d find, did we somehow mess with time to the point that everyone on earth simply vanished.
There was also the possibility that the existence of Jolly meant mankind hadn’t evolved.
The beeping sound caught my attention. It was steady, loud and annoying.
“Sorry.” Pedro showed me the phone. “We have service and I have …. three hundred and twenty texts. Weird.”
We made it to the compound. When we had left it was a paradise. A simple, yet exquisite hotel like building. Now it was quiet and dusty, it smelled cold.
“I really wish I knew what happened,” I said, then jumped when I heard the sound of something.
I peered up to see a maintenance man. He stood before a bucket, his hands didn’t move and the mop lay on the floor as he stared at us.
“Hello,” I stepped to him. “We need some help. Where is everyone?”
He stammered his words, not making any sense, and then he said. “Back. You … you’re back? You’re back!” He spun on his heels and quickly ran out, screaming the entire way, “They’re back.”
<><><><>
Within twenty minutes of our encounter with the maintenance man, the entire compound was swarming. Police and emergency workers came and took Dash, they had taped off the area, but reporters descended all over the place.
Yet, I was still in the dark. Why did everyone up and leave? Why was there such a hoopla considering we weren’t gone but three days.
I was trying to wrap my head around it when I stepped outside to watch the ambulance take Dash.
“Miss Bronavanavanavich.” A reporter rushed to me, shoving a microphone in my face. “Tell me, how does it feel to be back after four months?”
Stunned.
Did she say ‘four months'? How was that even possible? There had to be a mistake. I asked her to repeat her words.
“Four months. How does it …” she paused. “You didn’t know, did you?”
Upon the realization that I had truly been gone that long I flew back into the compound. Four months I was gone and all I could think about was my poor mother.
<><><><>
“We’re sorry, Miss Bronavanavanavich,” the administrator at Grand Meadows said on the phone. “We were told you were dead. The money ran out and we moved your mother.”
“Where?”
“County Nursing home.”
My entire being splattered on the floor, all those months of selling my body and soul to get my mother the best care possible to have her end up in the only place where I didn’t want her to be.
I was in my room and I hung up the phone, stunned and sickened.
The television played softly and I turned it up when a picture of our team was on the screen behind a male news anchor.
“The Winters expedition which was attempting to break the barriers of time was believed to be dead when they never returned. Now, they are back in what is being called a miracle. Some members did not survive the trip, one of which was Hedlin Rush, the …”
I shut off the television when there was a knock on my door.
“Come in,” I called out.
Tony and Pedro walked in.
“Hey,” Pedro said. “Wanted to let you know the police have Herb. He’s in custody.”
“Where’s Jolly?” I asked.
“Being checked out. Dash is in the hospital as you know,” Tony said. “How are you?”
“Terrible. What happened? Do you know?” I asked.
“Dash’s CEO is on his way,” Pedro explained. “Apparently he’s been running the company. According to him, we never returned. They waited and figured something went wrong. The automatic return system brought us home, but missed the landing. You have to figure when you are looking at sixty-five million years, a few months isn’t that far of an overshoot.”
“I have to get home,” I said.
“We’re leaving in a couple days,” Tony told me.
“No. I have to go ... now. I need you guys to finish up things. I am going to try to catch a flight to the United States. I need to take care of my mother.”
“What about Dash?” Pedro asked.
“Dash made it perfectly clear that when the expedition was done, my work with him was done as well. The expedition is finished. I’m going home,” I said. “I’m going home to take care of my mother.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
DASH
The two days in the hospital did wonders for me, although I was surprised that no one came to visit.
No, scratch that … I was surprised Paige didn’t come to visit me.
Being in a health care facility gave me a lot of time to think. I still wasn’t able to come to terms with the fact that Paige had slept with my Uncle Henry, but I was able to forgive and move on.
I had to.
Paige not only saved my life, she put her own life on the line to do so. She was willing to risk missing the trip back just to get me.
That was something I couldn’t forget … ever.
