Dinosaur Wars

Chapter fifteen - Mayhem

Addison stepped out onto the deck.

"The ship nearly rolled. I felt it down below. The medical kit's smashed to pieces."

"The least of our concerns, James. We need weapons."

"Why?"

Masters and the other men were gathering what they could - boat hooks, awls, shovels from the excavation equipment. The answer to Addison's question came in the form of a sailor running from the stern toward them, screaming. Then a giant appeared behind him, so quickly that it was as if the T-rex had materialized out of the air.

Moments earlier, the raptor that had been swept over the top of the wheelhouse had rolled past the Tricerotops, across the deck toward the aft. The water had drained through the scuppers and the beast skidded around till it collided with the collection of legs left by the T-rex. It immediately tore through the cloth of the pants of these, ripping out chunks of muscle and swallowing them whole.

After it had finished its latest mouthful of man, the T-rex picked up the raptor's movement. It turned and stepped toward the new prey. But the raptor hissed, leapt forward, baring its ferocious teeth to defend its meal - as fearless and tough as a honey badger taking on a much larger lion. The T-rex pulled back - there were much easier meals to be had. The succulent smell of flesh was everywhere in this strange, new environment.

A sailor, who had been cowering by a gear locker, chose this moment of distraction to escape the nightmare he found all around him: the ship bouncing like a cork in a whirlpool, the rain raking in, jagged lines of lightning in the dark distance as if the sky were being split open, and the statue-like monster that had in an instant burst into malicious life, an ogre easily crushing the puny humans. He made a dash for the crew's companionway.

The T-rex sensed his sudden flight. In two steps of astounding speed it was within attack range. It opened its jaws. Before it could close them, however, it felt a jag in its eye. Luc Girard had rushed forward from the men near the companionway to defend the sailor. He'd swung a long-handled gaff, landing the hook in the dinosaur's eye. The beast roared and yanked its head back, pulling Girard off his feet and into the air.

The Frenchman held on with a tenacious grip. The dinosaur shook its head madly. The hook ripped down its eye and Girard's hands slipped on the wet wood. He fell, smacking into the deck. The T-rex threw back its head and roared once more, the vicious hook still dangling from the bottom of its eye. The animal shook its head again and the gaff clattered down.

Girard lay stunned. The T-rex slowly lowered its head to where he lay, snorting with a cold deliberation that the Frenchman could only interpret as rage. And that's when he saw the miraculous transformation. The gouged line in the eyeball began to knit back together. The viscous clear liquid, its vitreous humor, that had leaked out as if it were unset jelly, was sucked back into the wound. The convex shape of the eye popped out, clear and smooth.

The beast drew back its leathery lips, revealing the crowbar-like teeth. Girard suddenly rolled out of the way as the T-rex struck, splintering the planks where he had lain. He darted between the animal's legs, grabbing the gaff along the way. He stood and swung this again, as if chopping at a tree with an axe. The gaff snapped in two as it hit the animal's leg. The iron hook in its end was bent back into the wood. The skin on the T-rex's legs was as hard as steel. Girard was left holding a piece of wood, long as a baseball bat, and like a jagged spear at its end.

He backed up toward the stern as the T-rex slowly stepped around, unsteady as Ajax heaved in the opposite direction to which the beast was turning. He was surprised by a piercing hiss, like over-pressurized steam venting from a valve. The Deinonychous raptor edged tward him, its entre of legs now a scattering of bones with only stringy sinews and small morsels of meat remaining. The T-rex had turned by now. Girard was caught between the prehistoric carnivores, a living meal to be competed over.