Dinosaur Lake 3: Infestation (32 page)

So now…where were they hiding and what were they
waiting for?

Chapter
13

Henry

A month after the first attacks, Henry came trudging
into headquarters after yet another raid which hadn’t netted even one dinosaur.
The weather had slipped from the suffocating heat of summer into a cool September.
The fog had taken firm residence and a couple of mornings frost laced the gold
or pale orange leaves. A cold wind whistled through the trees. And he knew the Oregon
winter wasn’t far behind.

Ann met him at headquarter’s front door, her
expression distraught and the lines around her mouth more pronounced than usual.
Her clothes hung on her thin frame.

“How was today, Henry? How many of our unwanted
monsters did you and your tank crew dispatch?”

“Not a one.”

Ann gasped, her frown curving up into a fleeting
smile before it resettled on her lips. “That’s good news, right? Really good
news?”

“I hope so.”

“So…we might be able to go home soon, huh?” Eagerness
in her voice.

He felt bad dashing her hopes. “Maybe, honey. We
have to be positively sure the park is safe before we take that step.”

“Any idea when that might be?” She shadowed him as
he made his way to his office. The outer rooms of the building had over the
last month grown very cluttered as any place would with as many people living
in it. Noisy, too. Even at night. Rangers and soldiers coming and going.

“Soon I hope. We are working as hard as we can. We’ve
made great progress. At least there isn’t bands of dinosaurs roaming
everywhere, causing trouble.” He also didn’t say there might be more dinosaurs staying
out of sight somewhere, waiting to strike when the humans guard was down. He couldn’t
bear to see her frown reemerge.

Within his office he put his arms around her and took
energy from holding her. After the month he’d had, he sorely needed it. They
both did. “Enough of all that. I’m sick of dinosaurs, sick of fighting or
running from them. How are you feeling?”

“All right, I guess. Tired, but I’m always tired
lately. No biggie. I’ve spent the day surfing the Internet collecting stories
about mysterious sightings of fantastical beasts and reports of missing people
as far away as Washington State. Watching weird videos.”

Her head shook slowly. “It sure is a strange time. You’d
be shocked at how many people, police, local and state officials are in denial
there are prehistoric creatures encroaching into their towns and states. Mauling
and taking people. Smashing everything. People sometimes just don’t want to
accept what they see, what really is there. Nothing ever changes.”

“Did you expect it to?”

“I guess not. Dinosaurs and the problems they bring
are now normal fare for us but not so for everyone else. People would rather
think they’re nuts, or are hallucinating, than accept that live dinosaurs roam
the earth. They want to be left alone in their ignorance so they can continue
to watch their reality shows on cable, play with their smart phones, iPads or
Facebook and Twitter each other. They want what they know. Their sane safe
routines. I don’t blame them,” she whispered. “When it comes down to it, isn’t
it what all of us want? Normalcy?”

She snuggled against his chest and kept talking. “But
things have gotten really crazy. I called Laura this morning and updated her on
things here. She and Phoebe are fine but they’re really missing Justin. You
know she’s only a month away from having that baby. It’s getting so close. I
want to see her and my granddaughter so badly.”

She sighed. “But I can’t reach anyone at the
newspaper. My reporters are MIA. I can’t contact anyone or any place in town. Not
even the hospital. Where are all the people? Do you know what’s going on there?”

“Captain McDowell says Klamath Falls has been, like
us, under heavy attack for weeks. Everyone has vacated. It is a ghost
town…except for our lizardry pals. They’ve taken over.”

His wife released a deeper sigh. “It feels strange
not going into the newspaper, working on stories or getting ready for the
weekly edition. Working. I’m at loose ends. Going stir crazy. I’ve become one
of those silly women who scroll through Facebook and other social sites as if
I’m addicted to them. Looking for traces of dinosaur encounters. Strange news.”

“You can work on your personal account of what’s
happening here. Pay our bills online. Keep searching the web for more
information on sightings in different places. Play with the cats. Keep decorating
our new bedroom.”

“Yeah, that’ll keep me busy.” She grimaced. “I’m
not used to doing so little, Henry. You know me. I guess I’ve got office fever.”

“I know,” he placated her. “Now what is really on
your mind? I know that look on your face too well. You’ve got bad news for me,
don’t you?”

This time she moved away so she could turn and face
him. This was it, he thought. This was the real news of the day and what she
was really upset about.

She took a deep breath. “You know me too well.
Okay. Today I also telephoned Wilma’s friend in Idaho–her name is Rosie
remember–you know, where Wilma and Zeke were supposed to be staying until the
coast was clear in Klamath Falls? I called just to see how they were doing and
if they’d heard anything about the town’s quandary from their end. I’ve been
doing that every week or so since this mess began. I usually talk to Zeke,
sometimes Wilma. You know how I fret about Zeke. Anyway, when I called today
you won’t believe what I found out.”

Oh, oh.
Henry felt an uneasy twinge somewhere in his brain. His left eye twitched. “Okay,
I’ll play. What did you find out?”

 “Zeke and Wilma aren’t there any longer.”

“What? Where are they?”

“Rosie said they left yesterday heading back to
Klamath Falls. She said Zeke has been wild to get back home, missing and vexing
about his belongings and his house, as he put it, but was fine with it until a
few days ago when
little boy
showed up missing one morning.”

“Who the hell is
little boy
?”

“His baby pet squirrel, remember? The last
surviving tree rat from his yard after the dinosaurs apparently devoured the
others? The one he had saved? Little furry thing about this big,” she measured
off about six, seven inches with her fingers, “with a fluffy tail?”

“Oh, that rodent in the cat carrier Zeke and Wilma
drove off with?”

She gave him a mean look. “His baby pet
squirrel
.
Cute, friendly little critter. Zeke’s really attached to him. He loves him.”

“Okey-dokey. Pet squirrel. But it’s still just a
rodent with a poufy tail,” Henry couldn’t help throwing in. “So what’s
happened?”

“Well,
little boy
escaped his cage and he’s
disappeared. Zeke was frantic to find him. When he couldn’t, he got it in his
head somehow the squirrel would make his way back home. His home in Klamath
Falls. And Zeke had to get back to his house to find him before the dinosaurs
eat him. Thelma, of course, had to do the driving because Zeke can’t.”

“You’re kidding, aren’t you?”

She rocked her head back and forth. “No. Afraid
not.”

“So Zeke and Wilma are driving back to Klamath
Falls?” Henry couldn’t hide his dismay. “To look for that rodent at his house?”

“By my calculations, they should already be there
by now.”

“That’s lunacy. Idaho is hundreds of miles away so how
could a silly baby squirrel find its way back to its home town across that many
miles? Ridiculous. And, heck, the
town
is full of dinosaurs. What is
Zeke thinking? You did tell him the town was full of dinosaurs, didn’t you, and
that it was too dangerous to come back?”

“Yep,” was all she gave him. She was staring at
Henry with another look he knew all too well. The
we have to do something…we
have to help
look.

“What would possess Zeke to do such a crazy stunt?
I know he was daft about that little critter, but, for heaven’s sake…Klamath
Falls is a hot bed of prehistoric monsters right now.”

“We know that, but he doesn’t care. He wanted to
come home. And I don’t recall if I told you before but Zeke’s been really slipping
the last few months. His health is extremely frail and his mind is, well, sometimes…confused.
He forgets a lot and sometimes becomes fixated on things. Can’t be talked out
of them.”

 “Come on Ann, are you telling me that Zeke might not
be in his right mind and that explains his premature return into a battle
zone?”

“That’s what I believe. I’d call it the beginning
of dementia, but I’m not sure. I’m no doctor. I just know Zeke and he hasn’t
behaved like himself for a while. And I saw him with that squirrel. He loved
that animal. Felt responsible for it when its family was eaten. He’s just
trying to retrieve some little thing of what he lost. And perhaps out of
desperation the only thing he could think to do was travel home in hopes
little
boy
is there.

“That and after a month away he’s missing his home,
his routine, the newspaper and the town. Us. All reasons to return. Even for a
short visit.”

“Then he and Wilma are in real danger. This morning
McDowell told me as we began our hunt that Klamath Falls is a total loss. The National
Guard continues to patrol and defend it but it’s overrun with blood-thirsty
predators and is uninhabitable. For humans anyway.”

“Oh, God, I hope those two old people are okay.”
She wrung her hands, gazing at the dark windows. “Where are they now? What is
happening to them? Why didn’t Zeke call me and let me know he was coming home?”

“Because you would have tried to talk him out of
it. He’s no fool. Besides you know Zeke, he’s such an independent cuss. He’ll
do what he wants to do. To be truthful I’m surprised he abandoned his home when
he did and not surprised in the least he’s coming back.”

“Oh Henry, you know, we have to do something!”
She’d turned to him, her white face tilted towards his, her eyes tinged with
tears.

Just what he’d been afraid of. They had to do
something. That something, the only course of action he could see, wasn’t something
he wanted to do. But then Zeke was like family. She felt responsible for him.
And now, especially, even more so.

“Like what?” He waited for it.

“We have to go and get him–and Wilma. As soon as we
can. Bring them here where it’s safe. Klamath Falls is a death trap full of
you-know-what. They could be fighting for their lives right now. We can’t wait.”

There it was. His mind ticked over any alternative
solutions and, of course, found none. The old man had to be rescued and who
else would do it but them?

He didn’t answer quick enough and Ann plunged on.
“We could take one of those army tanks and go into town with it. Go get them.
I’m sure they’re either at Zeke’s house or Wilma’s. But if Zeke is looking for
little
boy
he’s most likely at his place searching or waiting or whatever he feels
he has to do.”

“Getting the army to lend us a tank for an iffy
rescue attempt might not be so easy.”

“Ask Captain McDowell. I am sure she’ll figure out
something. She knows Zeke and she would want to help. Isn’t that why they are
here? To help?”

Henry knew better than to argue with his wife over
such a life and death issue. Once she got something that important in her head
it was hard to dislodge it. The second thought he’d had when she had made the
request was now that the park was clear of dinosaurs, or seemed clear, they had
a window of opportunity to do a rescue mission. If McDowell would go for it. “Have
you tried calling Zeke lately? On that cell phone you sent him?” The first week
Zeke and Wilma had been gone, Ann had ordered a cheap phone off the Internet
for him and had had it delivered. She’d wanted to stay in touch with him.

“I have. Many times today. I only get the message
machine. Either he is not answering or he’s lost the cell phone again. He misplaces
it all the time.” Her eyes were boring into him. “Well? Can we go get them?”

There was nothing he could say but yes. “All right.
I’ll speak to Captain McDowell tonight. We’re meeting later to strategize what we
are doing next. I will put this on the agenda. But, Ann, we can’t go this very
minute. It’d be suicide to travel through the park and into town now in the
dark, though we suspect most of the dinosaurs are gone between here and the
highway. But the town is still swarming with them. The best we can do is leave
at first light–if McDowell gives us permission to borrow a tank that is.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

“I am sure she will. She knows we can’t go into an
infested area without a tank’s protection. Cars or trucks won’t do it. Not if
Klamath Falls is as bad as has been reported. Once in town we can meet up with
the soldiers there and increase our force.”

“Dawn, huh?” She sounded disappointed but resigned.

“Best case scenario.”

“I sure hope they’re okay. Gosh, I wish Zeke would
answer his phone.” Her eyes returned to the windows. Night had fallen
completely. There was silence for once except for the soughing of the wind through
the trees. No roaring or night calls. No war drums. No attacks.