dinosaur island part 3
Dinosaur island part 3
Dave crouched down besides Carson, who was obviously still alive, but in a great deal of pain.
The long gash to his arm was bleeding profusely, red liquid splashing down onto the hard metal floor. His left arm wasn't as bad, only a small, but very deep puncture wound just above the elbow. Either way, this soldier was out of action for the next few months.
"We can't stay here." Dave commented as he started to tie a tourniquet around Carson's arms, to try and staunch the flow of blood.
"Why not?" Cat asked.
"Did you see that tests they did with the octopus and the bottle with a squid in it?" Dave asked.
Serafina gave him a look of sudden understanding.
"The octopus felt its way all around that bottle, and it took it only three minutes to take off the top and suck the squid out. We're the squid." Dave relied to his own question.
"So you're saying that they'll get in here eventually?" Cat inquired.
"No. I'm saying that they'll get in here very soon." Dave replied, unconsciously stroking his SVD [that's another name for the Dragunov].
"How the hell are we supposed to get out of here? Those things are waiting outside the doors." Cat commented hopelessly.
Dave didn't say anything. He drew his sword, holding it out to the side, the point sticking straight up, towards the roof.
He let go of the sword, giving it a slight upwards jerk with his hand before releasing it, making it hover in the air for the barest of moments.
Dave snapped his foot upwards, perfectly hitting the base of the hilt, sending the sword straight up into the roof, where it perforated the fibreboard-roofing tile, lifting it up and to the side slightly.
The tile tilting out of the opening, jarred free by the force of the sword impacting it, it fell through the hole it had once concealed, tilting as it went, until the tip of the sword hit the ground, the fibreboard sliding down the length of it, until it hit the ground with a slight splat, leaving the sword standing straight up in the air, not yet unbalanced.
Dave grabbed the sword's hilt, spinning it above his head to sheathe it, in a way reminiscent of the ninja's of old.
Dave then stepped back over to Carson, whose arm was starting to bleed less, the makeshift bandages stained a horrible red colour by the sluggish flow of blood. He picked him up, grunting with the exertion as he strained to keep standing under the weight of the heavy soldier.
"You're one big bitch." Dave grunted, as he manhandled the wounded soldier over underneath the hole in the roof.
Dave looked up at the roof, and saw that there was no way that they'd be able to get Carson up there.
"Hand him overrr." Serafina ordered.
Dave did so without thinking.
"How ssstrong is yourrr ssskin?" She asked bluntly.
Dave reached a hand out and stroked along the raptors neck, where the skin was softest, and found that it was exponentially tougher than human skin.
"Think of us as this." He replied, picking up a book from a nearby table and handing it to the raptor.
Serafina tossed it into the air and kicked it, hard. It caught on her claw, and was promptly torn in half.
"But we're wearing body armour..." Dave suggested.
Serafina gave him a predatory smile, and slashed her claw into his chest.
The two females drew their weapons and aimed them straight at the raptor, as Dave stared at the claw sticking out of his chest with shock. It had been so fast!
Serafina gave him a wry smile, something that Dave had been sure was something that a raptor wouldn't be able to do, and withdrew her claw, patting down the area where her claw had penetrated his body armour.
Dave pushed his finger into the hole, feeling around, noting that he claw had come less than millimetres from piercing his skin.
"What if you missed?" Dave asked, as the two females lowered their weapons cautiously.
"You would have died." She replied with another predatory smile.
Serafina manhandled Carson into position, ignoring his protests.
She stepped up behind him, and then grabbed his shoulders between her strong paws, pushing her tail between his ankles, rolling backwards, her feet on his back, until he was on his back above her, and then, using her amazingly strong leg muscles, she catapulted him up towards the opening.
She quickly rolled to her feet and leapt up after him, rolling forwards, latching her claws onto the back of his Kevlar vest, using the momentum to launch him further, sending him through the opening.
She landed back on her feet, looking at them with her head cocked to the side as if she did this every day.
"Anyone elssse want a lift?" She asked.
"I'll pass." Cat said immediately.
Dave was having his own doubts.
"I'll do it." The new recruit said gamely.
Serafina wasted no time in tossing her into the air, throwing her much smaller body through the opening easily with a single push of her legs.
And then that raptor moved onto Cat before she could protest, the reptile giving a murring laugh as the female screamed all the way up.
"It's okay up here." Cat called down after a few seconds. "We're moving south, recon. If you and...her...go north, check out the anti air platform, then we can meet up near the secondary containment facility."
"Agreed." Dave said, hearing the two females shuffling along in the large vents, Carson moving slowly due to his arm, a pistol held in his left hand, teeth gritted from the pain.
Dave was very aware of the fact that he was now alone in a locked room with dangerous creatures at every door and one of the most deadly creatures ever to walk the earth locking in with him.
Serafina seemed to see his fear, and walked up behind him, moving her snout close to his ear, and whispering in a hiss, "Don't worry, I don't bite...unless you want me to." She said, making Dave turn to her and stare, wondering what she meant.
"Going up." She stated, grabbing Dave and pulling him down on top of her, but unlike the other three, she pulled him facedown, so that he was forced only inches from her muzzle.
She smiled at him again, and threw him up into the opening. Dave realised much too late that he was too far from the edges of the hole to get a handhold.
Serafina leapt up after him, right through the hole, until she was suspended next to him. She giggled happily and then pushed off from the edge of the hole, crash-tackling him to the side, pinning him under her weight.
Dave let out an "oof!" at the impact, slightly winded by the knock.
Serafina leant down and began to nip at his neck playfully, saying, "I got you!"
Dave was rather taken aback. Having never been pinned by a carnivorous dinosaur that seemed to be trying to be playful with him, he was completely wrong-footed, not knowing what to do. So he just ended up lying there until she got bored.
"You're not much fun are you?" She pouted. Dave was amazed at the range of humanlike expressions and emotions that she could produce.
"We're being chased by dozens of highly fast, highly deadly predators. Now is not the time for fun and games." Dave commented, as she let him get up.
Dave drew his deagle, pulling a flashlight attachment from a pocket and hooking it to the gun. He flicked on the light, the narrow, powerful beam reflecting off the reflective metal of the walls, revealing a rather large space that was used for maintenance.
"Well. You've got a ton of predators chasing you. If you start running, we could make it one more?" She asked hopefully, obviously hoping that he would let her chase him.
Dave was tempted to take the offer, if only to get her out of his hair.
"We've got to get moving." He said instead.
Dave stood up, having to stoop slightly to stop from banging his head on the roof, Serafina following glumly, disappointed that he didn't want to play.
They were crossing above a containment cell called, according to the map, "Training room: light amplification through stimulation of emitted radiation", a phrase that Dave had heard before but couldn't place, when the vent they were both crawling through fell away completely.
Serafina had been in front of him, her tail almost smacking him in the face, when he weight caused the vent to buckle slightly.
Dave had reached forwards on instinct, grabbing her tail, holding on tightly to try and hold her up as the vent gave way.
Serafina gave a raptorial shriek of surprise as she started to fall.
Dave heaved on her tail to no avail, she was much too heavy. Her weight started to drag him out as well, and he let himself slide, turning in the air as he started to fall with her, grabbing the ledge with his left hand while still holding her tail with his right. But she was way too heavy, and her weight forced him to drop as well, both of them falling the ten metres to the ground, rolling as they hit to absorb the impact, Dave doing so consciously, but Serafina doing so on complete instinct.
Dave stood up, brushing himself off as Serafina leapt to her feet, practically bouncing on the heels of her feet, asking, "Can we do that again?" Like a little girl.
Dave had to smile at that. "If you can get back up there, sure." He replied, pointing towards the vent that was much too high for her to reach.
"Oh! A maze! Last one to the exit is a compy!" Serafina said, starting to run around the large room.
Dave looked at where she was running, and saw that she was running along strange black lines with red studs.
He stared at her as she changed direction with the speed of a hunting cheetah. She was really something to see.
She reached the exit to the 'maze', stepping on a large black plate marked with a red symbol, activating the room's machinery.
Dave realised where he had heard the phase light amplification through stimulation of emitted radiation before, and yelled for her to stop, but he was too late.
She was already moving back across the maze when the lasers kicked in.
They sprung up out of the ground instantly, enclosing them both in a maze made of deadly red bars. But that wasn't what really worried Dave. Serafina was standing in the centre of the maze when the lasers started up; Dave was close to the far exit, only having to step backwards to escape.
The lasers started to turn, shifting position randomly, turning on their axis, creating a whirling dance of death.
Dave stared at the whirling lasers, Serafina likewise staring from the centre.
He dived through an opening, yelling out to her, "Stay there!" rolling between two converging lasers.
It was now a game of dodge, whether Dave cold stay ahead of the deadly lasers without them touching him and cutting him to pieces.
He danced between the lasers, Serafina watching with awe as he made it through gaps she wouldn't have been able to.
He was about three metres from her when a pulse laser shot up from the ground, spearing right through the base of her muzzle, emerging from between her eyes before shutting off just as fast as it started.
* * *
Big cliff-hanger! Ha! That's what you all get for not voting on to charm a dragon!