The Reunion (3 page)

As he brought the drone in closer, she looked up and saw it.  It was a young girl, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old.  She was crying and as she watched the drone, she stretched her hand out pleading.  Through the microphone located on the drone, he could hear her saying, “Help me, please help me.”  She then lowered her head and he could hear her crying.

Without hesitation, Marcus said, “Jocelyn, turn on the audio on the drone.  Miss, can you hear me?”  She nodded.  “Just sit tight.  I’m about an hour away.  I’ll be there as fast as I can. Video off.”

With that, their little convoy stopped and he pulled up to the window of the MAV again.  He looked at Kim for a minute and then lowered his eyes.

Kim reached out and took his hand.  “Don’t worry.  I know you have to.  Daddy and Mama built that into us.  Let’s turn around and go get her.”

Marcus raised his eyes and said, “I know you want to sis but I can’t, and won’t put you at risk.”

“Nonsense, if we stay together, there shouldn’t be any problem,” said Kim.

“Sorry, you have other passengers to take care of and Jocelyn can drive you home.  Besides, let me check something.  Jocelyn, what is the estimated time of arrival if we all go and take the MAV?” he asked.

“ETA is approximately three o’clock tomorrow.  The drone has scouted the road and the obstacles blocking travel and there are significant challenges.  Three o’clock is the earliest you can arrive,” said Jocelyn.

“What about if I go alone on the solar bike?” he said while looking at Kim.

“Approximately two hours or a lot quicker knowing your previous adventures,” said Jocelyn smartly.

Kim’s eyes widened and she started to speak but Marcus stopped her.

“She won’t make it if I don’t go alone. No…  Don’t even think about it.  I know you could but I know the bike better and I would have a better chance,” he said.

Kim finally agreed knowing that to save the girl; Marcus would have the best chance. Marcus leaned in and hugged his sister.

“Take’em home Jocelyn.  I’ll try to catch up but if I don’t, I’ll see them at home,” he said smiling.

As soon as he leaned back and moved out of the way, the MAV lurched forward and started travelling down the road again. 

Marcus flipped down his face shield and asked Jocelyn about predators that could potentially threaten the MAV.  Jocelyn noted that while there were several dinosaurs in the area, none were an immediate threat. 

As he turned and headed off the mountain, he noticed that some clouds had begun to roll into the area.  They were black and ominous.  He asked Jocelyn about the weather and she said that there was a seventy percent chance of rain this afternoon and seventy-five percent chance overnight.  It wasn’t what he wanted to hear.  He noticed a few dinosaurs as he went through the twists and turns of the road as he descended the mountain. 

He reached the bottom of the mountain and turned left and headed toward the Cades Cove area.  After about five miles, the surrounding forest began to take on a new look.  It looked like the valley had suffered some really bad weather, possibly even some tornados.  Several times he had to go off road to go around fallen trees. 

Jocelyn had been right. Travelling with the MAV would have been a mistake.  Some places were practically impassable for anything but a motorcycle and Marcus had to walk the bike over a couple of trees every now and again.  Getting out of here quick was going to be a challenge.  He made sure as he was making his way through the underbrush that he plotted a better way out.

He kept checking with Jocelyn to see how close he was getting to the girl.  He had already been riding for over ninety minutes. 

Chapter Seven

Jocelyn let him know that he was within a mile of the girl.  The problem was there was still one of the allosaurs in her vicinity.  Marcus stopped and tried to decide on a plan of action.  Jocelyn let him know that the road leading up to the ‘The Sinks’ was relatively clear.  He had his model 700 rifle located in a boot on the side of the bike and he also had his pistol.   He didn’t think he could take the allosaurus down with the rifle but maybe… if he could get a clear shot to the eye of the allosaurus, he could wound it enough to get in and get the girl.  Marcus admitted to himself that the chances of that working were minimal but he was running out of options. 

Finally he decided to go ahead with it.  Slowly, he rode until he was within three hundred yards of the girl.  He stopped just before going around the last turn.  He hid the motorcycle off to the side of the road behind a huge rock wall that was traveling the length of the road.  It continued around the turn and up to the bridge the girl was hiding under.   Getting his rifle, he got off, crouched down low, and eased around the corner. 

The allosaurus was standing on the bridge that the girl had hidden under.  Every now and then the dinosaur would lean over the edge and try to get at the girl.  She was in a somewhat decent hiding place but that was only because the allosaurus refused to step in the white water flowing over the falls. 

Marcus eased to the ground and went into the prone shooter’s position.  He brought the scope to his eye and carefully took aim.  This was going to be a tough shot.  The allosaurus kept moving.  If he missed badly, he might end up just making it madder than it already was.  After about ten minutes, Marcus heard a sound from up above.  The dinosaur raised his head and looked skyward and roared.  In that brief second, Marcus got his chance and fired.  He hit right at the edge of its left eye.  A good shot but not the shot he was hoping for, but the dinosaur screamed a high pitched scream and stumbled.  He was so close to the edge that he completely stepped off the bridge. 

Although the total height of the falls from top to bottom was only about fifteen or twenty feet, there was a large volume of water going over it.  When the allosaurus stepped off, it slipped, stepped in a deep hole at the top, went over, and crashed to the bottom of the falls.  As this happened, Marcus could hear the huge leg snap as it went down.  Marcus knew it was his chance and he was up and running to the girl.  The dinosaur was kicking and screaming lying in the pool at the bottom of the falls.  It was continuing the same high pitched scream it had made when Marcus shot it. 

Marcus made it to the bridge and holding to the concrete stones, eased down and dropped to the small ledge underneath the bridge where the girl was hiding.  He could see the relief wash over her face when she saw him.  With the sound of the falls and the screaming dinosaur it was impossible to talk.

Without saying a word, Marcus helped her up and over onto the bridge.  He made his way up and stood beside her.  They started walking across the bridge toward the bike.  She was walking with a pronounced limp.

“My name is Marcus” he said as he extended his hand.

“Hello Marcus, my name is Savannah…” she began but stopped as Marcus raised his hand for her to stop.

He put his right hand to his ear and said, “Say again Jocelyn.  I can barely hear you”.

Louder this time, Jocelyn said, “Marcus, you need to run.  Fourteen different dinosaurs are headed your way. The allosaur’s scream is drawing them. The closest one is five hundred meters and closing fast.”

Marcus and Savannah were still fifty yards away from the bike.  He grabbed her arm and put it around his shoulder and yelled, “Run!”

“Four hundred meters,” said Jocelyn into his earpiece.

Half running and half walking they limped toward the bike. 

“Three hundred meters,” said Jocelyn again.

Whatever what was coming their way was fast.  Marcus and Savannah were only half way to the bike.

“Two hundred meters,” said Jocelyn.

They were almost there.

“One hundred meters,” said Jocelyn. “Fifty meters, twenty-five meters…”

As they made it to the bike, Marcus looked back in time to see a Spinosaurus come into the clearing. It spotted them immediately and came charging.  Marcus rammed his gun into the boot on the bike and helped Savannah get on and wrap her arms around him.  The Spinosaurus was almost on them.  Marcus leaned forward and violently twisted the throttle to its max.  The bike took off like a shot.  Both of them could feel the monster breathing down their necks.  The Spinosaurus took a swipe at them and just missed.  It was so close that some of dinosaur’s saliva touched the back of Savannah.  As the bike quickly went through its gears, they finally began to pull away. 

Chapter Eight

As Marcus glanced back he could see other dinosaurs coming into the clearing.  Allosaurs, tyrannosaurs, Utahraptors, and a few he didn’t recognize.  Apparently they were all converging on the wounded allosaurus.  Marcus guessed some were there for an easy meal and others for their pack-mate.  Looks like there was probably going to be a big fight.  Finally the Spinosaurus turned around and headed back to the screaming allosaurus. 

Marcus breathed a sigh of relief turning his attention to the road ahead.  Before he could settle in to the ride ahead, Jocelyn interrupted again. 

“Marcus, we have trouble again,” said Jocelyn.

“What is it now?” asked Marcus as his frustration was beginning to show.

“Look up. Pteranodons have migrated into this area,” she said.

As Marcus looked up he noted that surprisingly the skies had cleared. Apparently weather forecasting had not improved much over the years.  As he was looking up and around he saw the giant winged monsters circling above him.  There were three circling above and they were tracking him.  It was going to be a long day. 

As Marcus rounded the next curve, the road opened up on a long straightaway.  He grimaced as he realized that the trees on this mile and a half long straightaway were scarce.  He glanced upward and saw the pteranodons swooping down for the kill.  He yelled at the girl to hold on and they both leaned forward as Marcus turned the throttle as far as it would go. The bike shot forward like a rocket. 

The pteranodons were coming and they were coming hard.  With the angle they had on him, Marcus wasn’t sure he could make it to the trees before they were on him.  He leaned further forward urging the bike to go even faster.  At the last second, they made it far enough that the closest pteranodon had to pull up and fly above the trees as they shot through the next copse of trees not bothering to slow down. 

Marcus knew they would keep coming.  They needed to find shelter and wait them out.  He thought about calling the MAV back to him and decided against it. Luckily, being in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, they were under cover for the next several miles.  The forest didn’t open up until they were closer to the Sugarlands Visitor Center.  This is where Marcus was heading, if they could make it. The Center had been renovated along with most of the other buildings in the park just prior to the outbreak of the virus.  Hopefully everything was still in working order.  The pteranodons were still soaring above and they weren’t about to give up a potential meal.

He opened up the throttle again and streaked for the Center.  Luckily, he had enough jump on the pteranodons that they couldn’t make it before he ran the bike up and through the front doors.  He slid the bike across the large domed front entranceway that was probably a hundred feet across.  Marcus jumped off the bike, ran back to the entrance, slammed the doors shut, and engaged the safety locks.  He looked around quickly and went through the Center to double check everything. He checked all the entrances and all the other doors to see that they were safely locked down.  Due to all the terrorism that was rampant during the last fifty years, most public buildings were equipped with an emergency lockdown system and lucky for Marcus and the girl… the Visitor Center’s system was operational.  Marcus was also glad that whoever had been there last had left the front doors unlocked. 

Chapter Nine

The girl wasn’t saying anything.  She just walked and limped along quietly with her arms crossed tightly to her as he checked everything.  He kept trying to talk to Jocelyn but for some reason the earpiece was malfunctioning.  He may have broken it in all the excitement.  He finally gave up and finished clearing the building.  Satisfied that they were secure, he turned to the girl.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She sniffled a little and said, “I’m okay.”

“Well let’s try this again.  We were interrupted before by Jocelyn speaking in my earpiece and I wasn’t for sure I heard your name right,” he said as he stuck out his hand. “Hi. My name is Marcus.”

She stuck out her hand and took his, “My name is Savannah.”

“Well, Savannah, do you go by Savannah or something else?” he asked.

“My friends all called me Savvy.  You can call me whatever you like,” she said.

“Well, Savvy, It looked like you had yourself in a little predicament. What happened?” he asked.

Hesitant at first, she walked over to a chair and sat down.  Then she finally spoke, “Well, it all started when I was with a group of older adults that were trying to make it to an army base down in Florida that we had heard about.  We had some intelligence on that group that’s been causing so many problems.  They are called the Jackals and we wanted to let whoever was in charge know what they were up to. 

“Anyway, there were about twenty-five of us.  I was the only one riding a motorcycle.  My dad had bought me a motorcycle when was only five so I knew how to ride.  We had enough fire power to fight off or at least get away from most of the dinosaurs running around but when we got to Knoxville, we were ambushed by a large crew of Jackals… and just like their name, that’s what they are.  We had been fighting for over an hour when we realized that they were going to eventually get us.  Sam, who was our leader, told me to get on the motorcycle and try to get away while they were still fighting.  I took off but a couple of the Jackals saw me. It wasn’t easy but I was able to get through the city and away from them. 

“After that I started to turn back but decided to keep going and try to make my way to Florida.  I came down through Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and then through Gatlinburg.  I was going to try and go through the Smokies and keep away from the cities. I didn’t want to attract attention.  About a mile from here, I ran into a big t-rex and had to go a different direction.  Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, I ran into the allosaurs and they almost got me.  They missed me but caused me to wreck and I was barely able to get to the bridge where you found me.”