Dinosaur Lake 3: Infestation (17 page)

“I thought you asked Ann not to go to town?” Kiley
was grinning, hands casually on his gun belt.

Henry tossed him a dirty look. “Yeah, like she
listens to me. If Zeke needed her, off she’d go.”

Henry wrestled his cell phone from his pocket and
keyed in Ann’s number. “I think I’ll give my wandering wife a quick call and
make sure everything’s okay.” When his call wasn’t picked up he said, “She’s
not answering, either.”

“You’re going into town now, aren’t you?” Ranger Kiley’s
grin was gone. “You’re worried something’s happened like what occurred last
week at Zeke’s, and Ann, maybe Ellie, are involved?”

“Well, if something’s going on, those two women
will be in the thick of it, I have no doubt. A reporter and an ex-soldier, now
ranger, always seem to find trouble.”

Kiley smiled softly, his caring for both women
evident. “You got that right. Ellie and Ann are two of a kind. Nosy, but
competent women ready to help someone in need no matter the danger to themselves.”
The ranger had known his boss and his boss’s wife long enough to be able to say
such a thing. They were, after all, all friends. “Do you want me to come with
you?”

“That’d be a good idea. You know the new rules. No
ranger travels in the park or to town alone. Let’s go find our women and bring
them home.”

The men left headquarters and drove off in Henry’s jeep.
Henry keeping his eyes and ears open for any sights or rustling noises,
suspicious or otherwise, out among the underbrush, between the trees or off in
the distance. No one had seen or run into any dinosaurs of any kind for days
and he was beginning to wonder where they’d all gone and what they were up to.
He had this eerie mental image of all the dinosaurs, both small and large, like
characters in a bizarre horror movie, gathered around in a clearing somewhere
plotting the demise of the human race. Chattering, or roaring, and conversing
in an intelligent newly created dinosaur language only they could understand.
Ridiculous.

Oddly enough, there weren’t any animals anywhere around
at all. None. Not a squirrel or a rabbit or a deer or a moose or a bear or…any
of the natural park animal inhabitants. Even the birds seemed to be in hiding. No
birdsong. Utter silence. What was that about?

Of course, neither he or any of his rangers had
been out on the lake recently because the water was off limits since he,
Justin, and Steven had witnessed the fierce battle between the leviathans. If
the park was perilous, the lake was a mine field. Henry prayed those water
monsters couldn’t or wouldn’t come out onto land. Talk about a potential slaughter.
For the first time ever, he wished the army would hurry up and arrive. Let them
be dinosaur fodder, not his men.

They were near the outskirts of Klamath Falls when
Henry received a phone call from Ranger Gillian.

“Chief, just a heads up. The National Guard has
arrived. In force. Obnoxious as ever and dragging in their big guns, Humvees, and–I
swear–tanks. They’re like a plague of gray camouflaged locusts. They’re everywhere.
Noisy. Pesky.”

Tanks
.
Henry almost laughed, but didn’t. The sinking feeling inside his gut wouldn’t
allow it. The arrival of the army was the final lid closing on his previously peaceful
life and the park’s future. He had the feeling this time the soldiers wouldn’t
be leaving for a long time. Maybe never.

“Give them anything they need, Ranger Gillian, and
let their CO know I’ll be reporting in to him or her as soon as I get back.”

“Er, if I can ask, where are you, Boss?”

“Ranger Kiley and I are on a mission to Klamath
Falls to investigate something.”

“Oh, you mean Ann’s run off to town again and
you’re worried about her?”

Gillian, as Kiley, was a friend as well as a
coworker. This time Henry did chuckle. “You know me too well. We won’t be too
long, I imagine. We’ll find Ann and her accomplice Ranger Stanton and return to
the park long before dark.”

“I’ll cover for you, Chief. No worries. See you
when you return.”

When Henry tapped off the phone he said to Kiley,
“The army has landed…and taken over.” His voice was not happy, but deep inside
he was relieved. He and his men needed the help no matter how he felt about the
invading force. At least, they’d have massive and efficient weapons with which
to detect and obliterate the primeval enemy, whatever and wherever it was. That
made him happy.

“What’s new?” Ranger Kiley made a sound in his
throat that could have been a snort. Kiley wasn’t a great admirer of the men in
camouflage, either. Too many weekend warriors for his liking.

“More and more dinosaurs,” Henry uttered in a
monotone. “Heaven help us. We need to find Ann and your Ranger Stanton and get
our butts back to the park. With all the reinforcements now there, it’s about
the safest place I can think of.”

“Sure, Boss. We’ll get in and out, fast as a bunny.”

Henry chuckled and sped the car up. He didn’t mention
to Gillian that his small red dino friends probably loved bunnies…to eat.

****

The remainder of the drive into town was uneventful
until they were within its boundaries. First came the sounds of ambulance
sirens screeching and filling the hot day; then as they got closer, streams of
people running in one direction as if there was a fire or a riot going on
somewhere.

And the final jolt.

The unimaginable destruction started on Main Street
and veered off in a wide swath across the yards, through the houses–what were
left of them in the neighborhood–and into the distant woods. It looked as if a
giant sickle had descended from the sky and just begun churning up the earth
and everything on it.

“
What happened here?
” Ranger Kiley’s eyes
were taking in the chaos. But, as Henry, he knew what had happened. Along the
first few blocks of the street there were more people staggering around, some
bloody or weeping, and local police officers, most likely looking for survivors
and taking notes, mingled with them. Squad cars and ambulances were everywhere.
The local cops were there. What a surprise.

“
Dinosaur
,” Henry spat out disgustedly. “And
by the looks of it it was a big one and left a massive path of wreckage in its
wake.” He fretted over how many people had been injured or died. What the hell
kind of dinosaur could have done this? And he was suddenly angry. He’d tried to
warn the town authorities that this might happen. They should have believed him
and should have been prepared. By the looks of it, they hadn’t been.

“Another Godzilla, huh? Oh God help us.” He used
the sarcastic name Henry himself had used years before. “Now
they
have
spread to town, as well. All those miles away from the park. Creepy lizards.” Kiley
was staring at the demolished buildings and yards with shock altering his face.

“Isn’t the first time.” And Henry told him about
Zeke’s close call the week before with the smaller breed. He should have told
him when it happened, but he hadn’t and he didn’t really know why. Perhaps
because speaking about it aloud would have made the whole incident, the unpleasant
truth that some of the creatures had already migrated into the heart of town,
too real. Now by the look on his ranger’s face, he realized he should have said
something. They were friends after all.

“God, it is the end of the world. Death by
dinosaurs.”

“That’s what my son-in-law says, too.”

“We need to find Ellie and Ann,” Kiley stated, “if
they’re here.”

And Henry remembered. Ann. She might have been in
town when this melee occurred and fear bit him with sharp teeth. It’d be just
like her, if she saw a dinosaur charging down Main Street, to go after it with
her camera for the photo opportunity. Damn the danger. “You’re right, we need
to find them. First I need to have a chat with someone.” He spun the wheel to
the left, squealing tires, and parked his jeep at the curb behind a squad car.
He’d seen the police chief conferring with one of his officers in the middle of
someone’s destroyed yard. He’d know something and possibly even where Ann or
Ranger Stanton were.

His discussion with the police chief was brief.

“If you’re looking for your wife and that female
ranger of yours, Chief Ranger,” Lester Chapman said the minute he spotted
Henry, “they’re both okay, but pretty shaken up, and they’ve taken Zeke Johnson
and Thelma Poehler to Zeke’s house to recover some.”

“Is my wife and the others unhurt?” Henry asked.

“As far as I could tell. They fled from the, er, disturbance
and hid in Skeeter Lockwood’s cellar until the trouble was over.”

“Dinosaur, Chief Chapman, not disturbance.
Dinosaur.
”
Henry glared at the man. He’d have to accept that dinosaurs were roaming the
earth again now. Or not. The disdainful expression on the Chief’s face was
clearly one of unrelenting denial.

“Nonsense. This destruction was caused by some sort
of straight line winds or a tornado or something.”

“What do the witnesses, the people who went through
it, say? They say it was high winds or a tornado?”

“Well,” the man appeared to falter, then regained
his bluster, “they’re all pretty upset. They’ve been through a horrible
experience. They don’t know what they saw, what they’re talking about right
now. It’ll be clearer for them later.” 

Henry gave up. He hoped the creature showed up at
the Chief’s house and tried to eat him. That’d show him. Let him deny the
existence of dinosaurs then. Idiot.

“I’ll give you some advice, Chief Chapman, and if
you’re a smart man, you’ll take it. Evacuate the town. Get all the people out
of here
now
. It’s only going to get worse. These prehistoric creatures
have already taken over my park and the town is next on their list. And it
looks like they’ve already moved in. Get the citizens out while you still can.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. Abandon the town because
of a little catastrophe? Make all the people leave?” His chubby arms spread out
to include the scene around them. “That’s impossible. These are peoples’ homes
and some have no place else to go to. There’re old folks that can’t quit their houses,
too sick. How about the hospitals and the nursing homes? Where are they all
going to go?”

“I don’t know that answer, Chief Chapman. I’m just
telling you that this,” he also waved his hands around, “is going to keep
happening and the damage, injuries, and the death toll will keep rising. The
townsfolk need to get out. The farther away the better.”

The police chief scowled at him but had nothing
else to say about the subject.

Henry posed a couple more quick questions about the
devastation and after barely getting the answers he wanted because the police
chief was so evasive, he pivoted on his heels, with Kiley still with him, and
darted to his car, got in and drove to Zeke’s. He was more than relieved to see
Ann’s and Stanton’s cars parked out front.

First thing he did after he burst into the house,
seeing his wife comforting an old woman, Thelma, whom he recognized from town,
was gather his wife into his arms. “Thank God you’re not hurt! All of you. Tell
me what happened.” He would have kissed her but two rangers and two civilians were
watching him. A hug had to do. Ann would understand.

“Henry, Ranger Kiley, sit on down and have some coffee.
I just made a pot.” Zeke motioned at some empty chairs. He and the rest of them
looked beaten and exhausted; their clothes torn and their faces dirty. As if
they’d been through that tornado or another natural disaster Chief Chapman had
spoken of. Remnants of what they’d gone through still lingering in their expressions.
Zeke’s thin frame swayed as he stood by the sink and Ann moved over to prop him
up.

“Sit down,” she ordered. “You’re ready to
collapse.” And she gently pushed him down into the chair she’d recently vacated.

Henry and Ranger Kiley found chairs and settled
down as Ann poured coffee into cups for them and brought them to the table.
“Help yourself to cream and sugar, you know the drill.” Then she sat down
beside him. He could feel her thigh against his and took a breath of relief.
Ann, all of them, seemed bruised but otherwise all right.

Yet as he listened to their harrowing account of
escape and survival his sense of relief dissipated and was replaced with
growing apprehension. The creature that had chased them and demolished a
section of the town was still out there…and perhaps more than one. They could make
another appearance any minute. Anywhere.

“It’s not safe around here any longer, Zeke.
Thelma.” Henry’s eyes went to the two people who lived in town. “You both need
to leave Klamath Falls for a while until this situation is rectified. Right now
those things are still out there in the woods around the town.”

He pressed the older woman, “You have family out of
the area?”

Zeke, an arm around Thelma’s shoulders, acted as if
he truly cared for her. He was being so protective.

Thelma’s head moved side to side in a negative
motion. “No family. Zeke’s all I have. Around here anyway.” She sent a glance
his way and her face broke into a faint smile. “But I have a very dear friend, Rosie,
who lives across the state border in Idaho. Not far from here. It’s not a long
drive and most of it is easy highway. I sometimes go to visit and stay with her.
We were girls together and have kept in touch. More so since her husband died
three years ago. She gets lonely, you know.”