David Golemon: Primeval

Ryan reached out, felt around the left shoulder of the decaying flight suit, and lifted a small flap and felt underneath. There should have been a patch indicating this pilot's flight group, or at least a flag of his country, but the space was empty. He felt around the sickening remains again in the dark. He came upon a rotting piece of leather and allowed his hand to travel down farther. It was a shoulder holster that all military combat pilots carry. As he unsnapped the strap that held the weapon in place, it came off in his hands and then the entire holster fell free. He lifted it to his face and saw that is was a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson .38 Special. He opened the cylinder and felt the rounds there — six.

"Sorry, buddy, but I may have need of this."

Suddenly, he heard noise from outside the cave and he pointed the .38 into the dark. He didn't even know if the gun would work as he pulled back the hammer. He swallowed as whatever it was had not one concern for the noise it was making. He hoped the damn weapon would fire and was about to find out when the voice came through the opening.

"Jason, is that you?"

Ryan rolled his eyes and released the hammer on the small handgun. He let out a deep breath and then laid the weapon in his lap.

"No, it's Mary Jane Rotten Crotch. Who else would it be? Do you guys think you can make any more noise?" he asked angrily.

"Sorry, we picked up a hitchhiker," Sarah said as three people came crashing into the cave.

All Jason could see was dark hair and a shapely butt; his anger immediately vanished.

"Jason Ryan, meet Lynn Simpson, Jack's sister."

Sarah could see Ryan as he cringed when he heard it was the colonel's sister. He soon got over it and then picked up the small .38.

"Nice to meet you," Ryan said sarcastically.

"I'm sure," Lynn said as she stepped around the skeleton and the ejection seat.

"Don't mind him; he's being a baby because he got speared by a tree branch. He's been in a bad mood ever since he crashed our helicopter," Sarah said as she kneeled over and checked Ryan's wound.

" I crashed! You mean, when we got shot down?"

"So, that was you?" Lynn asked as she looked around the darkened cave. "Your flying drew enough attention from the Russians to give me time to escape."

"So glad I could be of assistance."

"Damn it, you're bleeding again!" Sarah said as she once more applied pressure to his wounded shoulder. "You did it dragging that thing in here, didn't you? You stupid idiot."

"Yeah, does this look stupid?" he asked thrusting the pilot's handgun into her hand.

Sarah still kept one hand on the wound but felt the reassuring feel of a gun in her other.

Lynn looked around her. "Hey, where did the girl go?" she asked.

Sarah looked up and saw nothing. She couldn't tell if Marla was standing right next to her.

"Marla," Sarah called out. "Marla, get back here with us, right—"

The sound of wood striking wood filled the cave. Then the sound of automatic-weapons fire erupted not far from the caves opening. Ryan saw tracers flying everywhere and that was when he decided.

"I think we better find a back door to this place; that doesn't sound good at all."

"I think you're right," Sarah said as she lifted the pilot to his feet, her small frame far stronger than Ryan realized.

With Lynn and Sarah flanking Jason, they entered the cave.

"By the way Mr. Ryan, who is Mary Jane Rotten Crotch? An associate of yours?" Lynn asked, knowing full well the name was one of those many foul-sounding delicacies the military used for describing the not-so-virtuous women hounding servicemen. "Maybe an old girlfriend?"

"Yeah, most definitely an old flame of mine."

As they went farther into the cave it wasn't long before long-sought-for items became visible in the bleak darkness and as Ryan fell over one of these Lynn realized they had found what Alexander was looking for: the Hyper Glide.

Lynn knew it by its real name: It was the weapon of choice for a mission known to the military as Operation Solar Flare.

Punchy Alexander couldn't see anything other than the Spetsnaz taking aim at nothing and firing. He aimed his own Beretta nine-millimeter into the dark, but all he could see was the smoldering remains of one of his Sikorsky helicopters and smoke rising from the men doing the shooting. He tried to get them under control by shouting out orders, but through the explosive reports bouncing off of trees and rocks he didn't stand a chance at being heard.

He finally reached out and grabbed Sagli who was just as frightened as his men. He turned him toward the north and pushed him forward. They were soon joined by three of the Spetsnaz.

As Alexander turned to look behind him, he saw something that froze his blood. A dark shape jumped from the trees and clubbed one of the soldiers to the ground. The beast struck the man three times in quick succession and then vanished before the men next to him could react.

"Jesus, what are these things?" he yelled as the beating of the clubs continued in its deafening cadence.

The men he left behind started to fight in earnest, laying down a dense cover fire in all direction. Then, one of the Spetsnaz who had gone to ground in a prone position was struck by a huge rock that was thrown from the darkness of the trees. That was followed by a roar that chilled the blood of every man who heard it. As the prone man was quickly checked by one of the electronic technicians, another rock was thrown, this one even larger that the first. The tech didn't have a chance as the stone hit him square in the face. That was what broke the other techs' will to stay and fight. They all ran for the trail that Alexander had just disappeared down and that was when the animals hit with force. At least twenty of the great beasts broke free of their camouflage against the trees and started swinging their clubs. The sounds of wood striking flesh overpowered the screams of men as they were taken down one by one.

Giganticus Pythicus had evolved over the last twenty thousand years, enough to gain the knowledge that led them to the use of tools and they were using them now and winning against the advanced firepower of mankind. The camouflage and striking capability coupled with the knowledge of when to attack caught the Spetsnaz, the technicians and the regular soldiers off guard, and when the last one fell, he died never knowing what it was that attacked and killed them.

The battle for the Stikine River was over in three minutes.

Jack stopped long enough for Everett to snap the wire-ties with a sharp stone. It took them far too long as they heard the battle in the back of them. The shooting was getting lighter and the drumming louder. The screams of animals no one in their small group ever wanted to see in person tore through the trees and assaulted their hearing. The primal fear they all felt growing inside of them was surreal in the fact that they sensed this was something that their ancestors may have feared as they went about their daily lives, in that Jack remembered Mendenhall's brief description of what he was feeling on the river.

"Damn, Jack, whatever we're dealing with here is kicking the hell out of Alexander's men," Everett said as he finally freed Mendenhall and turned to work on Farbeaux.

"May I suggest now that we have a weapon that we continue north and see if we can't thwart that old friend of yours?" Henri said as Everett cut through the thick plastic of his restraint.

As they all looked up, Jack Collins made sure the Russian-made weapon had a full clip and then he turned and ran for the trail where he knew his old buddy, Punchy, was heading.

"I think the colonel's way ahead of you," Mendenhall said as he didn't wait for Everett or Farbeaux as he hurriedly dove into the brush and followed Jack.