Mega 4: Behemoth Island (24 page)

Darren and Shane lifted Lucy off the stretcher and each draped one of her arms over their shoulders. They drug her off to the side, getting as far away as possible from what was about to come out at them.

Mike opened fire on the croanderthals with his plasma gun, running sideways and providing covering fire for Darren and Shane as they struggled to keep Lucy up on her feet.

Max was right beside him, his shotgun barking at the mutant cannibals that came for them, clubs held high, razor sharp teeth showing.

Thorne and Darby simply walked forward, taking careful, well-placed shots with their plasma rifles, ripping holes in the mob of croanderthals. The croanderthals responded in kind by rushing towards the two, rage overriding the fear of what was coming from the jungle.

“Here we go,” Thorne said as his plasma rifle powered down. He whipped it about and grabbed the barrel like a bat just as Darby did the same thing.

Croanderthal heads stopped exploding as Thorne and Darby got too close to the targets, but Thorne could tell the firing hadn’t stopped completely. Gunshots still echoed across the bay. Either the shooters had found targets far enough away not to hit Thorne and Darby with friendly fire or…

The trees were torn from their roots as the massive, mutated, T-rex-looking bastard burst from the jungle and immediately scooped up four croanderthals in its mouth, crunching down hard and sending blood and guts spewing for several meters across the white sand beach.

Thorne ignored the monster, knowing there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He just concentrated on bashing in as many protruding foreheads as he could. Croanderthal after croanderthal dropped from his constant swinging of the dead plasma rifle. Almost as many dropped from Darby’s swinging as well, but she was taking more careful aim, making sure each swing was a certain kill shot. Thorne admired the dedication briefly then focused back on his mad attack.

Down the beach, Max fired his shotgun into a dozen croanderthals running at him until the gun clicked empty. He tossed it aside and pulled a .45 from his hip, firing until that was empty. A dozen croanderthal corpses lay at his feet, but more were coming at him and his guns were empty.

He picked up a crude club and held it over his head.

“Come on, you Flintstone motherfuckers!” he shouted. “It’s time to go clubbing!”

Even with all the distance and violence between them, Max would swear later he heard Darby groan.

He brought the club down onto one skull then another before he was tackled at the waist and sent falling onto his back in the sand.

“Dig in!” Mike shouted and Max covered his head with his arms and closed his eyes.

He felt the heat of the plasma blasts rip around him and the skin on his arms burned and tingled. Then he was covered in croanderthal gore. But at least he wasn’t under a prehistoric dogpile anymore. He opened his eyes and gave Mike a thumbs up then wiped as much of the guts off him as he could before getting to his feet.

“Thanks,” Max said.

“Yeah, you won’t thank me if you get caveman Hep C,” Mike said, frowning at Max’s appearance. “You’re going to need a lot of showers.”

Mike’s eyes went wide and he lifted the plasma rifle again. Max dropped to a knee as the man fired then looked over his shoulder as two croanderthals exploded into piles of offal.

“These fuckers never give up, do they?” Max asked as he once again got to his feet.

“No, they fucking don’t,” Mike said.

A few yards away, Darren and Shane still struggled with Lucy.

“Luce? Can you hear me?” Shane asked.

“Yeah,” Lucy replied weakly. “But I’m really tired, Shane. Can I sleep for a bit?”

“No,” Darren barked. “Keep your eyes open and stay with us. You sleep, you die.”

“Way to sugar coat it, D,” Shane said.

They turned to their right and headed for the Zodiac that was left all alone a few feet up from the high tide line on the beach. All of the croanderthals were occupied dealing with Darby and Thorne or running and scrambling from the giant dinosaur that was even busier making snacks out of them.

“Lucy? Answer me,” Shane snapped as Lucy’s head lulled against his cheek. “Lucy!”

“What?” she grumbled in a sleepy voice. “Stop yelling at me. Too loud.”

“Tell me some dick jokes,” Darren said.

“Really?” Shane responded.

“Whatever it takes,” Darren snapped.

“Fine,” Shane said. “Hey, Lucy? Remember how fun it was to mock my penis? You got anymore good ones you’ve been saving up?”

“I have good ones,” Lucy replied quietly. “Which is more than you can say, little balls.”

“Okay, now we are going after all of my genitalia,” Shane said. “Awesome.”

“What’s two inches and grows to six inches when you stroke it?” Lucy asked, smiling a crooked smile.

“I don’t know, Luce, what is two inches and grows to six inches when you stroke it?” Shane asked.

“Yeah, you’d have to ask,” Lucy said. “Because you’ve never made it passed the two inches.”

“That was awful,” Darren said, laughing. “Tell another one.”

“How many dicks does it take Shane to screw a chick?” Lucy asked.

“How many dicks does it take?” Shane asked as they progressively got closer to the Zodiac.

“One,” Lucy said. “Just one. Which is more than you have.”

“I should let her die,” Shane said. “No one should have to suffer jokes this lame.”

“I’m dying, asshole,” Lucy whispered. “Fuck off.”

They got her into the raft and eased her to the bottom then Darren turned to wave the others over.

“Fuck,” he said.

Shane looked up and saw Thorne and Darby surrounded by croanderthals while Max and Mike were busy trying to draw off as many as possible further down the beach so the shooters on the B3 could pick them off.

“We can’t wait,” Darren said and looked at Shane.

“Go,” Shane said. “You’re a better sailor. You’ll get her on board faster than me.”

Darren handed him a knife and a 9mm.

“Kill ‘em all,” Darren said as he started shoving the Zodiac towards the surf.

“That’s the plan,” Shane said. He turned and looked at the brutal chaos. “Hey, Uncle Vinny! Got room for one more?”

Shane started to run towards a group of croanderthals, but they all spun around and fled. He thought it was because of them then realized the mutant T-Rex was moving fast in their direction.

“Oh, fuck,” Shane said as he realized it was coming at him as well. He turned and took off after Darren and the Zodiac. “D! Hold up!”

***

Ballantine pulled his eye away from the rifle scope and looked over his shoulder as he heard voices coming up from the main hatchway. He ignored the look he received from Dana and focused on the person that was last to step through the hatchway.

“Carlos, we need that cannon, now!” Ballantine shouted. “I also need you to focus the beam so it can hit a specific target on that beach!”

“You what?” Carlos snapped then he looked at who was standing at the railing. His eyes went past Kinsey and fixed on Ingrid. “Why does she have a rifle? She can’t shoot!”

“The hell she can’t!” Kinsey snapped without looking away from her scope. “The girl has a gift! Looks like we have another shooter on this ship!”

“I may assign her to Team Grendel,” Ballantine said. “If you don’t hurry your ass down there and bring up the cannon right this damned second!”

“If it is heavy then I will gladly help carry it,” Ronald said.

“Yeah, it’s heavy,” Carlos snapped as he turned on his heel and headed back through the hatchway, uttering various curses and insults in a muffled voice.

“I shall return,” Ronald said to Gunnar. “Please watch over Dana for me. She is not to be trusted, unfortunately.”

“You got that right,” Ballantine said, returning to his scope and squeezing the trigger twice before looking back at Gunnar. “Gut her if you have to.”

“What the hell?” Gunnar mumbled. “Your relationships need work, Ballantine.”

Ballantine only laughed and went back to sniping.

“There is nothing to be done for him,” Dana said. She glanced over at her ship and her eyes widened. “Oh my god…”

Blood coated every inch of the upper deck. There were quiet moans and some cries for help. Those stopped quickly as the Harris-Logan thing went from survivor to survivor and crushed their skulls, sending spurts of blood shooting up into the sea air. It looked over at the B3 and roared then grabbed a railing and swung itself up onto the platform outside the bridge.

“What is that?” Dana asked.

“Dr. Timothy Harris,” Ballantine responded without stopping his firing. “You remember Timothy, don’t you? That kid that kept calling when we lived in Boston? You said he was bordering on being creepy. I think he stepped over the border.”

“Everything you touch…” Dana let the words hang there and then just folded onto the deck, her butt hitting the hot metal with an unceremonious whump.

Gunnar held his knife to his side and watched her closely.

***

A jagged hunk of rock tore into Thorne’s side and he fell to a knee in severe pain. Darby grabbed him under the armpit and yanked him back up.

“No quitting!” Darby shouted, using her rifle butt to shatter the croanderthal’s skull that attacked Thorne. “Fight, goddammit!”

“I am,” Thorne said, gasping as the wound in his side stretched and blood squirted out. “I got this.”

Darby let him go and blocked an attack from another croanderthal. The thing tried to sweep her legs, but she perfectly timed a stomp and snapped his leg off at the knee. The creature screamed then shut up as Darby crushed his face with her rifle.

A hard blow to the back of her head sent her reeling and she stumbled into a pack of four croanderthals who immediately began to pummel her. At least until one of them was snatched up in the jaws of the giant T-rex that wasn’t really a T-rex. The other croanderthals scattered and fled, leaving Darby on her knees, blood pouring from a gash across her left eyebrow and her right ear swelling to an unsafe size.

“Hey!” Max yelled just as the mutant T-rex gulped down another croanderthal and started to turn its attention on Darby. “Hey, you scaly fucker! Over here!”

The beast whipped its head about and roared at Max.

“Shit,” Max said as he took a couple of steps back. “I don’t think it liked being called a scaly fucker.”

The monster faced Max and then began to run full on towards the Reynolds brother.

“Go!” Mike yelled, yanking at Max’s arm. “Come on!”

“I guess that distraction worked,” Max said, huffing and puffing as he and Mike sprinted across the sand. “Too bad it’s going to get me killed.”

“It’s going to get the both of us killed,” Mike said. “Dickhead.”

“The thing wanted to munch on my lady and I’m the only one that gets to munch on my lady,” Max said.

“Jesus, if that’s the last image I have in my head before I die, I am so going to haunt you in the afterlife,” Mike shouted.

***

Thorne watched the beast take off after Mike and his nephew. He knew there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. There wasn’t a damn thing he could do about much considering he was surrounded by croanderthals. They encircled him and Darby, their wide brows glowering, their razor sharp teeth on full display.

“What the fucking point is there to any of you?” Thorne snarled. “Bunch of fucking savages jerking off on some deserted island.”

“Not deserted,” the Liu croanderthal said as she stepped from the circle to face Thorne. “We here. We live. No desert.”

Darby took a swing at the woman thing, but her blow was blocked and she was sent falling back against the legs of those that had her and Thorne surrounded. Rough, gnarled hands picked her up and shoved her back in the center.

“What do you want?” Thorne asked. His shoulders were slumped and his chest heaved up and down as he tried to catch his breath. “Just tell me what you want.”

“I tell you,” the Liu thing said. “Leader want Ballantine. Me break Ballantine.”

“He’s never going to set foot on this beach,” Darby said. “He’ll let us die first.”

She said it with some venom that the Liu croanderthal couldn’t help but smile at. It was a nasty smile. All teeth and blood.

“You hate Ballantine,” the Liu croanderthal said. “You hate like leader me hate.”

“I hate like Darby me hate,” Darby said. “No one else hates like Darby me hates.”

“Can we not talk like them, please?” Thorne said. “Have some dignity before we die.”

Before Darby could respond, the Liu croanderthal grabbed Darby by the throat and lifted her off the sand. It carried the woman out of the circle and towards the surf, shaking her like she was made of nothing.

“BALLANTINE!” the Liu Croanderthal shouted. “I have friend! I have her! I kill! You come or I kill!”

There was a far-off voice and the Liu croanderthal frowned.