The Flashback Trilogy

Chapter 6

He squeezed out from under the dead velociraptor with what strength he had left and scrambled for the window, but had scarcely begun to reach for Corbin when the ex-cop snapped, “My g*n, asshole!”

Red looked about the room, still disoriented. Spying it, he rushed toward it and snatched it up, even as Charlotte called, “Let’s hurry it up, we’ve got company!”

Red handed Corbin the weapon and they exchanged uneasy glances. It was an exchange that set Red’s hair on end, for the cop’s eyes said one thing very clearly: I could leave you here right now, asshole. Because seconds count ... and it might just come down to you or me.

Then he set his weapon aside and extended his hand for Red to take, and they just managed to clear the window and climb into the Jeep before the pair of allosaurs—not quite as large as their cousin T. Rex but quicker and more gracile—descended upon them from the mists, and the group narrowly missed being caught in a pincer movement only by Charlotte’s assured driving and a heady dose of pure, undiluted luck.

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The first aspect of the primitive girl Red became acquainted with was the tip of her spear, which jabbed him in the ribs as he climbed into the backseat of the truck.

“You brought her spear?” he said incredulously, shifting the weapon aside, even as one of the allosaurs brushed its massive head against the chassis, causing the Jeep to lift off two wheels briefly and to nearly lose its footing.

“She’s in shock, but she wouldn’t be separated from it,” said Charlotte. “Hang on!”

Red grabbed the back of her seat as the Jeep rocked violently and accelerated, sparing a glance at the primitive girl as he did so. She was only semiconscious, and her right leg was clearly broken, plus they’d buckled her in. Nevertheless, he gripped the short spear stealthily as she turned her head against the window and eased it into the rear storage area.

The vehicle jolted again as the allosaur on the passenger side butted it with its head, and Red shouted, “Jesus, Corbin, give us some cover!”

The ex-cop was already working on it, and an instant later Red saw a repeating, crisscrossed muzzle-flash erupt from the side of the truck, the rounds of which blasted away a chunk of the animal’s snout and the sound of which startled the primitive girl awake.

“Naaygi!” she cried suddenly. “Naaygi!” She reached for her spear instinctively, and, finding it nowhere, began thrashing about wildly in her seat, grunting and growling.

“I think we got a situation back here,” said Red, even as she lunged at the sound of his voice.

Corbin continued to fire. “In case you haven’t noticed, asshole, we’ve got a situation out there.”

Red shrunk against his door as the girl clawed at him, batting away her hands, which were large, like a man’s, but the seatbelt held her in place, mostly. Still, when she twisted amidst its entrapment and started kicking him with her good leg, he knew something had to be done.

“Handle it,” snapped Charlotte.

“Yeah, handle it,” shouted Corbin—a mistake, for at the sound of his voice she lunged for him, reaching around his seat with her filthy, sinewy arms and locking her hands viciously about his neck—causing his rifle to swing inward and several rounds to punch through the windshield, the muzzle flash turning the cab white, the spent shells flying haphazardly, clouds of cordite turning the small space into a toxic stew.

“Handle it, Red!” repeated Charlotte, even as the wounded allosaur jammed the tip of its snout into Corbin’s window.

Again the truck rocked and again Red looked at the primitive girl, seeing the fire in her large, dark eyes, realizing she would kill the ex-cop before she ever let go. Without a moment’s more hesitation he c****d back his fist and struck her as hard as he had ever struck anyone in his life, cringing inside as his knuckles met the flesh of her face and her head bounced off the window hard enough to c***k the glass.

And then she was out, she just turned off, slumping in her seat, and the allosaurs had been eluded, and they gained the freeway at last, which, despite the numerous derelict vehicles and potholes and creeper vines, remained in surprisingly good shape. And, somehow, amazingly, as they sped away toward the compound, Red slept—during which he dreamed he was no longer human, but a being of pure light. And when he awakened he did so to the primitive girl staring at him with her head laid back against the seat and her huge, brown eyes full of curiosity, yet strangely impartial, while in them danced a light the color of which he had never seen.

II | The Devil’s Shambhala­­­­­

Red watched the primitive girl closely as they passed beneath the great arch at the entrance to the parking lot, an arch which read “Welcome to Bluebeard’s Cove—The World’s Largest Underground Theme Park.” She seemed to be in a sort of trance now, and he couldn’t help but to wonder what she was thinking as those huge, brown eyes rolled up to gaze at the signage, at least so much of it as would be visible to her, nor could he help but to wonder, again, what the strange color was that lingered just behind her pupils.

“Doc, this is Charlotte. Incoming, with two wounded.” The radio hissed as she released the switch.

Red gripped the handle above his door as the Jeep lurched to a stop on the east side of the reception building, next to the security keypad, while Charlotte lowered her window. “What’s the code?” she snapped.