Sixth Extinction

Chapter 27

From his elevated position hidden behind the sharp rocks on the ridge, Silver watched the four-wheeled vehicles roll towards their position. He looked to Sarah as she ducked down in the trees. He scanned the area to his west looking for where Joel had hidden himself. No sign of the engineer. Good!

Hair tickled his neck as it stood up on end. Something’s watching me! He looked behind him, into the viscoraptor territory. Where are you? He wondered then looked back to the approaching vehicles.

He could just imagine the large lizards waltzing up behind him and taking him by the legs again. Don’t think about it. He ordered himself and looked through the scope of his rifle sitting in the valley between two rocks.

These were no designs for vehicles he’d seen before. The engine seemed to be located at the rear, pushing the rolling machine along. Steel plating lined each side of the cabin. Silver moved his rifle to get a better look at the people inside. It was impossible to see through the narrow gaps. Even more so to get a shot off at them. Would a projectile even penetrate those shields? He didn’t think so. He would have to wait until they exited their safe haven.

“Joel, can you see what they are?” he said to his radio.

“No, I can only see shadows.”

Sarah’s voice came over the radio. “What if they’re human? They could be from another facility.”

The thought had crossed his mind. “Why haven’t they contacted us properly and been aggressive so far?” he said as he wiggled in a better position and curled his finger around the trigger. “I’m going to take a shot. See what happens.”

He pulled the trigger. The rifle cracked and echoed around the ridge. He kept his eye on the mark, the vehicles slopped front. Nothing visible happened. No dints left in the steel nor sparks on impact. Did I hit it? He removed his eye from the scope.

The three vehicles slammed their breaks on. The front wheels cessed to spin and the lead vehicles back end skidded around to the front. Dust rose up around them as the slid into a halt.

What are they doing? Silver wondered and ducked his head a little more. Plated doors swung open and figures jumped out. Silver looked into his rifle again to discover what they where. They still hid behind the steel slits of the swing doors.

“Joel, can you see them now?”

“Not really.”

Damn. He moved the scope over the second vehicle then froze at the sound of crunching rocks and a small squeal. Oh fuck. He slowly backed away from the scope and looked to his left. There with her tail up and head lowered stood the viscoraptor with a deep scar across her chest.

Blood drained from his face as she looked at him with narrow golden eyes. Her scaled lip lifted to show a row of long pointy teeth. She seemed to sway as they stared each other down, neither one making the first move.

From the corner of his eye he spotted a glint of reflective light. “Get down!” he shouted to her, then ducked himself.

Projectiles rained around them, chipping the tops of the shale rocks. The viscoraptor cried out with a loud high-pitched squeal and leapt down the ridge on the other side. “Wait!” Silver shouted to it. She darted down another step of rocks while opening it’s coloured feathers. Too late, he returned his hands over his head and waited for them to kill the creature.

The rain of rocks stopped. Silver kept his head down a little longer waiting for the enemy to reload and start shooting again. Nothing. The viscoraptor jumped back over the ridge and started leaping down the flights of rocks back into the safety of their forest. Good idea. Silver scrambled down another step.