Jurassic War

Twenty-Eight

Tanaka drove at speed down the muddy lane and kept an eye out for dinosaurs. He wasn’t sure whether the bull the T-Rex had killed was the same one he’d encountered before.

Glancing at the roadside vegetation, he watched for movement, fearing a Carnotaurus might rush from the jungle and charge into the scout vehicle. It would topple the small roadster and lead to certain death.

A light drizzle speckled the windshield and the wipers squeaked back and forth.

Rain danced on the soft top as he considered the perimeter they’d established at the fuel dumps. Moisture eased through the opening above the half-door, dampening his uniform and beading up on his uniform. The dark jungle appeared still; nothing moved within the orbs of his headlights. Tanaka relaxed a bit. Fate would meet him in battle with the Americans, not en route with another creature from the island.

A foot soldier appeared in the dim light far down the road. He ran with his rifle at port arms. The infantryman was double-timing back toward the garrison and seemed to bob in the headlights for a moment.

Vibrations shook the windshield. Tanaka slowed and the huge, knobby tires of the scout car dug into the muddy road and kept the vehicle steady.

More reverberations made the windshield tremble. The steering wheel juddered, and Tanaka braked, thinking the engine might malfunction. Decelerating, the Yonki came to a halt in the middle of the lane.

Everything turned quiet again. The soldier continued running down the roadway. Tanaka listened to the idling engine. It revved smoothly.

He stepped on the gas. The roadster jutted forward, and the engine compartment remained steady.

“Must have been a bumpy stretch,” said Tanaka.

Private Miura didn’t respond to the comment and sat mute in the passenger seat.

“What?” Tanaka looked over at the private.

A terrified look crossed the young soldier’s face.

Following the private’s line of vision, Tanaka spied a massive tree, rooted to the side of the road, with a trunk that rose up into the canopy of smaller trees. Over the adjacent trees, a menacing yellow eye blinked at him.

An enormous snout protruded from the leafy fronds of the palm trees.

The muzzle split open, revealing gigantic teeth. Rows of fangs dripped with saliva. Dread consumed the superior private.

Closing the distance to the dinosaur, Tanaka instinctively mashed on the brake, and suddenly brought the scout car to a stop. Miura flew into the dashboard and cracked his head on the windshield. The roadster grumbled and cast a faint glow over the soldier dashing from the beast lurking along the roadside.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex stood at the edge of the jungle and stared at the scout car. Footsteps sloshing through the mud resounded over the V-twin 2-cylinder engine. Canting its head, the dinosaur focused on the man running down the lane.

A predator, it broke after the fleeing soldier. Thunderous steps pounded over the earth.

Tremors shook the roadster and pitched the infantryman into the mud.

“Go!” Miura cried.

Tanaka registered the opportunity the distraction provided them. He hit the gas pedal, tires spinning, ripping up mud, and tore down the lane.

As the T-Rex snatched up its prey, the scout car whizzed around massive feet, with talons crimping the muddy soil. Crunching reverberated through the open window, as the beast snapped the infantryman’s bones. Blood sprayed the roadster.

A severed arm bounced off the hood, rolled up the windshield, ligaments flapping against the glass, then tumbled onto the roof. It jounced around, then skittered off and landed in the road. Tanaka checked the rearview mirror. Feasting on the soldier, the dinosaur didn’t pause until the limb rolled to a stop near its massive claws.

The movement caught its attention. It traced the path the arm had taken and finally locked its eyes on the scout car racing away.

Suddenly, the stout dinosaur gobbled up the rest of its fare, then broke after the speeding car. Tanaka looked back to the road ahead and accelerated. His body jerked back. Tightening his grip on the wheel, the little car picked up speed. Soon, the trees and shrubs along the road were just a blur, as the roadster sped along.

The steering wheel began to vibrate as the beast closed the distance.

Drifting from side to side, the car swayed with the undulating earth. He inhaled. Checking the dinosaur’s progress, it had stalked within thirty feet of them.

“Watch out!” Miura braced his hands on the dashboard.

Looking back to the road, they’d encountered a curve, and the left tires dipped into the shoulder. Palm fronds whapped into the open window, slapping Tanaka’s face with wet leaves. Tanaka steered to the right. And the car pulled from the gutter; it shot towards the opposite side of the road, headed at a large tree.

Tanaka cut the wheel to the left and the roadster veered towards the other side of the road; this time, they went hurtling in the direction of a culvert.

A channel of stormwater runoff flowed into a pipe running under the road.

Powerless to further adjust their direction, Tanaka pressed the pedal to the floor and increased speed. The car shot ahead.

“What are you doing?” Miura screamed.

“Hold on,” Tanaka replied, gripping the wheel tighter.

Miura clutched the dash. “You’re going to get us killed!”

Tanaka grinned as the roadster shot through the air. It landed in the soggy rivulet feeding the culvert. Churning tires spun, while the vehicle hung in place. Now, his stomach dropped in fear of not being able to escape.

“You’ve done it!” Miura chastened him.

“Just hold on.”

Slowing the engine down, Tanaka shifted into a lower gear and gently pressed the accelerator. The tires to the world’s first four-wheel drive all-terrain vehicle spun.

Vegetable matter and mud spat from the big rubber tires.

The T-Rex’s booming advance suddenly halted; a serene lull in its pursuit caused a shiver of terror to dart up Tanaka’s spine. The beast is upon us, he thought.

Pressing the gas pedal to the floor, the wheels reeled in the muck until one finally grabbed hold of a rock or firm clod of earth. Then, the little Yonki shot down the narrow ditch, covered with overgrowth.

Leaves batted the windshield and smacked both sides of the car. The vehicle jostled over the makeshift road, bouncing Tanaka and Miura out of their seats.

A giant roar blasted through the air from behind them.

Silence followed the outburst, and Tanaka hoped it wouldn’t chase the Yonki down the overgrown lane. Trepidation pricked at him like needles of heavy rain. The dinosaur stomped the ground, frustrated. And then, a mammoth thud resounded from the culvert, and a tremor undulated down the gullet, rippling the water away from the scout car.

“It’s after us!” Miura cried out.

Tanaka checked the rearview. “Not yet.”

Standing in the ditch, the Tyrannosaur eyed them fleeing towards the northly side of the island. It canted its head as though listening to something.

“Must be another soldier running down the lane. Caught its attention.”

“It might chase after him instead of us.” Miura sounded hopeful.

“Don’t count on it.” Tanaka pressed on the gas.

And the creature made its decision. It broke into a trot, running down the gulley, with legs outstretched, lumbering along.

The head poked back and forth, birdlike, as it chased them. Nose wrinkled viciously, the T-Rex’s lips curled up, revealing sharp, jagged teeth. Saliva dripped from its maw. Something about the Yonki had whet its appetite.

Tanaka squeezed the steering wheel and focused on the way ahead.

“Faster!” Miura called, looking over his shoulder.

“Can’t accelerate any more. We might lose control in here.”

“Well, it’s closing in on us!”

Glancing in the mirror, Tanaka couldn’t believe how fast it had approached the scout car. The predator was twenty feet away and gaining fast.

He sped up.

Whipped past brush.

Everything a blur.

Now, he couldn’t recognize the path ahead, as rain doused the windshield and leaves smacked against the glass. Opaque, like running through a thick fog, the drainage gulch was utterly indiscernible.

The Yonki veered up an embankment, with the right front tire shooting into the air.

Jerking the wheel, it hurtled downward, then the car careened up the other side. Struggling for control of the scout car, the T-Rex reached them.

It swung its head low and bumped its chin on the spare tire.

The front end sprung into the air.

Landing with a thud, the forward tires gripped the soggy ground and pulled the car away from the beast. It plodded after them.

Tanaka fought to control the roadster from cresting the berm. He kept them from crashing into the trees but lost speed in the process. A moment later, the dinosaur snapped at the spare tire mounted to the trunk.

Back-end punching down into the soil, the front wheels popped into the air.

Fear pulsated through Tanaka’s arms. Everything went numb from his shoulders to his hands. He couldn’t feel his grip on the wheel. It would bite through the soft top next.

Tanaka mashed the pedal to the floor. All the tires spun.

Engine racing, steam and smoke billowed from under the hood. And then, the car broke free of the creature’s grasp. The Yonki rocketed ahead, leaving the Tyrannosaur in its muddy tracks. Dazed and bewildered, the carnivore watched its quarry flitter down the trench.

“We did it,” Tanaka said, staring in the rearview.

Miura took a deep breath. “Not sure we are out of this yet.”

“The thing is just standing there. And we are pulling further away.”

Voicing the comment caused Tanaka a sigh of relief. He checked the mirror again; the dinosaur remained standing in the rain, dumbfounded. He looked ahead and a massive downpour cascaded on the hood. Slowing the vehicle to get a better view of the gulley, a vociferous roar grumbled down the narrow lane.

The beast broke into pursuit; thunderous steps shook the ground.

“It’s coming again!” Miura screeched, pounding the dashboard for them to speed up.

“We can’t have much further to go.” Tanaka accelerated.

Barreling after them, it stretched out its stride and thumped the sod with each footfall. Its gait was swift and firm. The dinosaur snarled. Ferocious teeth snapped at them.

The pounding grew closer. And still closer.

“We’ll never live through this,” Miura screamed in anguish.

Rounding a bend, the ditch straightened out. Tanaka gunned it.

The car snapped ahead, then the roadster shook violently, and abruptly halted. All forward movement ceased; the car appeared hung up on something.

Glancing out the window, Tanaka peered at the ground, expecting to find a fallen log. But he didn’t see anything. Yet the scout car appeared to be hovering over the ground. Fear pumped through his veins and his stomach churned in terror. It has us, he concluded.

Then, the car shook violently from side to side, with the T-Rex biting it, like a predator tearing at the meat of a recent kill. Extreme shaking caused Tanaka’s head to rattle.

And everything blurred. Rain, trauma, and shock befuddled him.

Certain death was upon them. Tanaka braced himself with a hand on the door, and the other clutching the steering wheel. He released all sensations of the physical world and accepted fate. A moment of reflection for his ancestors, and he was prepared to pass into the next life. Fright and anxiety dissipated. A calm beset him. Everything slowed down.

Time for me to die, Tanaka thought.

Miura screamed in fright as the vehicle lifted from the ground. The dinosaur shook it violently. Suspended twenty feet above the earth, the car brushed against the palm fronds atop nearby trees.

The Tyrannosaur lost its grip and the Yonki dropped toward the ground, rushing past vegetation, heading for a whopping crash. Windshield and hood tilted down.

Surreal movement, everything in the car appeared blurred, and the screaming became faint, distant. Outside, the locomotion drove the surroundings rapidly by them. A static obscured compartment, encased in a whirlwind, headed towards a certain demise; the situation appeared quite grim. And then, the scout car abruptly snagged in midair.

The beast caught them; it began shaking the car again.

Now, they were just five feet above the ground. Tanaka considered opening a door and tumbling out. A loud snap resounded from the trunk of the car.

Dropping fast, the Yonki smashed onto the ground, metal creaking, and mud sprayed everywhere. A crack ran up the windshield and the scout car sat askew.

No longer bandied about, the roadster had broken loose.

Tanaka pressed on the gas and the scout car flitted down the gulley.

Checking the rearview mirror, the dinosaur had the spare tire clutched in its jaws, viciously shaking the thing like a prize kill.

While they escaped down the trench, the predator remained occupied with the tire. The distance between them widened, and Tanaka relaxed his grip on the wheel. Dodging a calamity didn’t provide much relief; a major battle loomed ahead, and soldiers versus beasts were part of the equation. The calm wouldn’t last long.