Dinosaur World 7 Chapter 5

We drove off into the forest with the second truck close behind. I glanced over my shoulder to see Sun-hee, Tae, and three other men sitting with their weapons poised and ready as they each faced out in different directions.

Min-jun drove the other truck, and I quickly realized that speed wasn’t an issue with the vehicles. They weren’t as fast as my motorcycle had been, but they flew over the bumpy terrain with ease, and it didn’t take long for Kwan to navigate out of the cover of the trees and onto a narrow road.

I blinked as the sun shone down with no cover of clouds, and I was grateful for the light material of the shirt I’d been left. It wasn’t unbearably hot, but it was a hell of a lot warmer than Ravenscar had been.

The road winded downhill, and I suddenly found myself surrounded by tall cedars on either side.

I listened out for thunderous footsteps, or that eerie clicking sound, but it seemed we were dino free for the time being, and I stared out at the strange landscape while I tried to wrap my head around the change in scenery.

“You fought well,” Kwan said, and I jerked my head around to the Korean man.

“Oh,” I said. “Thanks, I guess I’ve had plenty of practice by now.”

“That is the first gun you have owned?” Kwan asked as he kept his eyes fixed on the road.

“No, I was using a .308 hunting rifle for a while,” I replied. “We’ve got Glocks, too, but I mostly relied on an SA-80 with a grenade launcher attachment more recently, until we started using Adhara’s weapons. They’re just more effective.”

“Why did you have military weapons?” the man asked. “You were a soldier?”

“Kat was,” I said. “She’s a Corporal of the British Army. That’s actually how we met her. Hae-won, Becka, and I were given the guns by her Brigadier after we helped deliver some information to an airbase for him.”

Kwan took his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at me, and his eyebrows were furrowed as he scratched his chin.

“Why were you doing a job for the military?” he asked.

“We helped save some of their soldiers from a hostage situation,” I explained. “It’s a long story, but the Brigadier came to realize he could trust us to handle shit without getting our asses killed, basically. We saw the opportunity as a chance to help the scientists at the airbase get some answers, and we ended up with a pretty good deal out of it. Plenty of weapons, ammo, bulletproof vests… some good times.”

“Hmm… not bad,” Kwan grunted, and I tried not to grin too widely at the hint of a compliment.

I looked up at the cloudless sky as we drove onward in silence for a bit, and I was grateful for how clear the day was. It would be easy to spot any flying dinos from miles off, and I felt relatively at ease now that I had a crew of trained, armed men riding directly behind me.

The road twisted around a corner, and the trees on either side of us started to lessen as we left the forest behind. There were wide, green stretches of land around us now, and a few houses which looked abandoned judging by the broken windows and blood-splattered walls.

I could see the ocean far off to the left, and I wondered how many horrific creatures were underneath the waves waiting and hoping that some humans would be stupid enough to dip their toes in for a swim.

“You love my daughter?” Kwan asked, and I was quickly snapped out of my own thoughts again as I registered what I’d been asked.

“Of course,” I said at once. “I love her very much. That’s why I’m here, we’re a family.”

The Korean man cracked his neck as he rolled his head from side to side, and as he let out a low, gravelly sigh, I wondered if I’d answered a little too honestly. Then I wondered if he actually did know Hae-won was pregnant, and if he was really just taking me away from the base to throw me into the sea so I would never see his daughter again.

I heard the men shuffle behind me, and I wondered if they had heard what was said, but I didn’t really care. Whether or not Hae-won’s dad kind of wanted to feed me to the dino sharks, I wasn’t about to be dishonest with the guy.

Not now that we were diving into the conversation, anyway.

“Hae-won’s really amazing,” I continued. “I can tell you taught her a lot, she’s incredibly smart, and she’s become a great fighter. Her bravery in all this has been… surprising at times, but that’s one of the things I love most about her. She’s an inspiring person.”

“She is.” Kwan nodded tensley, and he glanced up at the sky like he was scanning for dinos real quick. “My daughter means the world to me. She has a good heart, like her mother. But she is stubborn like me. And she clearly loves you.”

I didn’t know if I was supposed to reply to that, so I just smiled and hoped the conversation was going somewhere positive.

“But I am not blind,” Kwan said in a lower tone, and I had to lean closer to hear him properly over the rumbling of the truck engine. “I know these other women also look at you with love.”

I eased back into my own seat, and while I hadn’t expected Kwan to bring up my relationship with all the girls, I knew it would have to be addressed, eventually. I had no idea if what I had to say would make Kwan angrier, but he struck me as the kind of guy who could smell bullshit a mile off, so I just told him the truth.

“Yeah…” I muttered and chose my words carefully. “To be honest, I never expected to be in this position. Trying to survive an apocalypse with these amazing women at my side wasn’t really what I expected this year would have in store.”

Kwan glanced at me, but he kept silent as I tried to put into words how I felt about my girls.

“I do love them all,” I continued. “And I know that might not exactly be a traditional family layout, but the world has kind of gone to shit, and maybe traditions aren’t as important as they were a few weeks ago. What matters most is whether we can trust each other, and if we’d do anything to keep each other safe. I know I would die for your daughter, and I would die for Kat, Becka, and Adhara, too.”

The silence from Hae-won’s father started to feel uncomfortable as I stopped talking and rubbed the back of my neck. I half-expected him to throw a punch at me, or swing the door open and boot me out onto the road, but a few minutes passed, and the only sound was the hum of the engine as the trucks rolled down the road.

Eventually, I figured I’d just switch gears and go for small talk instead, but I didn’t get the chance to ask about the types of trees on Jeju. As we followed the next bend in the road, Kwan slammed on the brakes, and he snatched a rifle from beside his seat that I didn’t even know was there.

My soul almost left my body, but then I realized his hard gaze was on the road ahead instead of me.

I looked out to see a wide river cutting across the land, and a sturdy-looking, stone bridge led over it onto a wider road with bright flowers and leafy hedges on each side.

But that was a lot of water to cross.

“This will be dangerous,” Kwan said in his gravelly tone. “This river flows inland from the ocean.”

“So, it’s going to be full of sea dinos.” I nodded grimly. “Probably best to drive over as fast as possible. Can both trucks fit over side by side?”

“No,” Sun-hee whispered behind me. “We tried before, but it’s too narrow.”

“First vehicle goes over, and they will alert the others to whatever is in the waters,” Kwan said.

“Which means the second truck is always at more of a risk,” I concluded. “The dinos will be drawn out by the first truck, and ready to attack full-bore by the time the second crosses. Strongest shooters on the first truck, then? That way they can be ready to attack and cover the second.”

“Yes, we will cross first,” Kwan muttered. “You and my boys are a good shot. Min-jun is a skilled driver, he will cross second.”

Kwan turned and looked back at his eldest son, and I turned as well to see Min-jun give him a nod from the driver’s seat of the second truck.

“Have you ever had an attack here before?” I asked.

“Not yet,” Kwan said. “But we have spotted many large shapes in the water. Whatever is in there has a deep and wide space to hide in.”

“One of the men swears there is a kronosaurus in there,” Tae whispered. “He says it looks like the biggest sea monster you could imagine.”

“I swear I saw spikes poking out of the water once,” Sun-hee hissed. “But by the time we got closer, it had vanished. There is definitely something nasty in there.”

“That is why we must be focused,” Kwan said as he gripped the steering wheel tightly. “There is no room for error.”

I nodded and scanned the river, but it looked still and peaceful as a small, brightly-colored bird flew over it. There were no shadows I could see, but I knew the dinos had gotten smart enough to hide and bide their time until the right moment.

I gripped my sharp gun, and we waited for a moment in silence as Kwan studied the river.

“Why don’t we throw something in?” Sun-hee asked. “Like a rock or something? To check if anything is there?”

“That will just draw attention even earlier,” I countered. “Like Kwan said, the first truck is going to alert any hidden dinos anyway. No point in making ourselves any more obvious than we need to be.”

“He is right, Sun-hee.” Kwan nodded. “Now, it is time.”

The Korean man turned around to Min-jun and gave a thumbs up, then wasted no time in accelerating toward the bridge with an alarming speed I hadn’t expected from the vehicle.

I readied myself to shoot, and for something huge to suddenly jump out of the water as we drove over, but Kwan raced us over to the other side so quickly that it took only a matter of seconds.

Those seconds felt like minutes as I stared out at the smooth surface of the river, and I breathed a sigh of relief as Kwan swung the truck around so we could cover Min-Jun during his crossing.

The eldest son had already started to barrel his truck over the bridge, but then there was a thunderous rumble, and water flooded the riverbanks as something enormous jumped from the depths.

I started to shoot even before I even registered what I was looking at.

There was a cry from behind me as the men jumped from the back of the truck, and Kwan moved out of the driver's seat so quickly I didn’t even notice until he was gone. He screamed something in Korean as he hurled himself toward the river, and I dove out of the truck and followed him as I watched a thirty-foot monster grab Min-jun’s truck in its jaws.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

The beast looked like it had the head of a crocodile, and thick fins flailed at its side as it wrestled with the vehicle in its mouth. It was almost as wide as the river itself, and there was a muddy green tint to its skin. Its teeth were like yellow daggers, and there was a horrific, fishy odor as it roared.

“Kronosaurus!” Tae yelled, and the beast’s tail slapped the water to send a large wave crashing over the edge of the banks.

Min-jun jumped from his truck and started to pull the other men out as the back of the truck was repeatedly snapped at by the dino.

One of the men stumbled as the truck moved, and his rifle went flying into the river. The dino saw its chance and went to snap at the unarmed man. The beast just missed the guy’s arm, but one of the deathly, yellow teeth scraped his thigh and caught onto his pants.

Blood poured from the man’s wound as he cried out, and he was yanked off his feet as he dangled from the dino’s fang with only his clothes to suspend him. The dinosaur looked like it was trying to flip the guy into its mouth as it jolted its head back, and I took another shot at the beast’s head, but it suddenly roared and flung itself back into the water with the blood soaked man still hooked on its sharp teeth.

There was a horrific scream as the man was pulled under the water, and the kronosaurus surged forward under the bridge as the men all opened fire on it. One of the Koreans jumped into the driver's seat of the mangled truck, and sped off the bridge to bring the truck to safety, but I hurtled toward the river alongside Kwan.

We only had a few seconds before the dino took that man into the depths forever.

I skidded to a halt and almost slipped on the soaked river bank as I took aim at the quickly disappearing dino tail. My shot hit the base of the spine just as Kwan put three bullets a few inches away from mine.

The dino spasmed and flung itself upward again with the man still dangled from its mouth. The man screamed, and it looked like his right leg was facing two different directions now.

Min-jun stood on the bridge with a steely stare and took another two shots at the kronosaurus’ neck.

The river had started to stain dark red as blood shot out of the various bullet wounds, but it didn’t seem to be enough to cause the huge animal any real damage. The blood didn’t pour out as quickly as it usually did when I hit dinos with the sharp gun, and I knew it meant the hide was incredibly thick.

I formed what was half a plan in the space of a few seconds, and I raced onto the bridge to join Min-jun. I pulled the sword hilt from my waist and positioned myself right at the center of the stone structure, and I hit the button with my thumb so the black blade would materialize at the read.

The sea dino stared right at me with orange eyes, and I knew if it flung itself forward, the bridge would be destroyed in seconds.

It was a risk I had to take, I needed it to get close enough that I could use my sword.

“What are you doing?” Min-jun barked as I placed one foot up on the low wall of the bridge to steady myself.

“It’s hide is too thick for the bullets!” I said. “It’s going to kill that guy before our guns manage to kill it. I need to put this blade into its skull.”

“Follow his plan!” Kwan suddenly shouted from behind me, and I looked back to see him on the bridge with his son.

The dino flailed again, and it seemed to not know whether to attack us or the men on the riverbank who kept shooting at its side.

Min-jun raced to my side and aimed his K2 rifle at the dino’s face. He took his shot and hit right above the eye socket, which angered the creature enough for it to swing its head toward us with a low growl.

The kronosaurus threw itself toward the bridge, and I knew I would only have one shot at killing it before it would crush me.

I steadied myself on the edge of the bridge, and held my sword up high as the enormous beast sprayed a wave of water over me.

It swung its crocodile head down, but I could already tell I wouldn’t be able to reach properly from where I stood. Without thinking, I launched myself off the bridge to meet the dino’s head, and I could smell the deathly, fishy stench from its mouth. As I jumped, I thrusted my sword down onto the dino’s snout, and the blade cut through the skin as easily as if I had sliced butter.

I didn’t exactly have much time to plan my landing, but I gripped onto the hilt of the sword as the dino swung its head backward in a violent jolt, and the man was torn from its fang and crashed into the river.

Then I saw Min-jun dive into the river below me along with two other men, and I found myself balanced on the head of the dino as its thrashing movements slowed. I forced the alien sword further into the skull with all my strength, and my feet slipped all over the dino’s bloody, watery skin.

Still, the beast thrashed its head as well as it could, and my heart leapt into my throat as it nearly rolled in the water.

I needed to get the fuck off this guy before it crushed at the bottom of the river.

“Jason!” Kwan yelled from somewhere to my right. “Jump when I shoot!”

I didn’t have time to ask questions, but I could see Min-jun had pulled the injured man to safety onto the right side bank, so I gripped the hilt of my sword tight and wrenched it out right as Kwan put a bullet into the sea monster’s eyeball.

The dino roared as I jumped with all the strength my legs had in them, and Kwan threw his arm out as I half-fell, half-leapt onto the grass. He gripped my wrist as I stumbled on impact, and the thunderous crash of the fallen kronosaurus shook the ground as water sprayed over us all.

Everyone dove away from the side of the river, and I choked as the water filled my nose and mouth.

Once I was out of range, I bent over to spit onto the grass as I tried to steady my breathing. My ears were clogged up, and it felt like all of my senses had been numbed as I shook my head violently. I dislodged water from my ear canals and heaved up enough bile to unclog my throat.

I could hear the wails of the injured man, but there were no more splashes or roars as I rubbed my eyes.

When I straightened up, I saw the dinosaur was slumped over the left side of the riverbank, and blood covered its hideous crocodile-like head while the water ran red underneath it.

The bridge was still intact, and I watched as the river beast slowly started to slip down the bank and sink into the depths.

The injured man sat near Kwan’s truck, and two others sat with a first aid kit as they examined his leg. The guy looked paler than a ghost, but at least he was alive. I winced slightly as I glanced down at his mangled leg, and I hoped they had some strong painkillers back at the base.

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I spun around to see Kwan soaked in river gunk and blood. Despite being covered in slime, he still managed to look intimidating, but I swore he gave me a brief flash of a smile.

Min-jun stood beside him, and the eldest brother definitely did not have a smile on his face as he stared at the river.

“That was good,” Kwan said after he had studied me for a moment. “Very good. Bravery and clean fighting skills are not something which are easy to come by in a man.”

I grinned as the Korean man dropped his hand to run it through his dark hair, and he wrinkled his nose as a handful of mossy sludge came out.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked with a glance at the injured man. “I’m amazed he’s still alive.”

“He will live.” Kwan nodded. “But I am going to send him back to the base. I do not want his wounds to get infected, and we have plenty of medical supplies.”

“He may not have survived if you had not acted so fast,” Min-jun said, and I was shocked he’d joined in on giving me praise. His expression was still steely, but his tone sounded genuine, and I couldn't wait to tell Hae-won.

“Well,” I said as I pressed the button on the hilt of the sword. “None of this works without everyone getting involved, I could only do it because you guys are great shots.”

Kwan turned to his men who stood near the trucks, and he shouted something in Korean. They nodded and started to unload the stock from the back of Min-jun’s damaged vehicle into Kwan’s.

Sun-hee and Tae hurried over, and the youngest brother had a huge grin on his face as he reached up a hand for a high five.

“Very nice work.” He whistled as I met his hand mid air. “Those swords are amazing.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty fun,” I chuckled. “I’m already looking forward to a shower when we get back, though.”

“You need one,” Tae laughed and then smelled his own shirt before he choked.

The two younger brothers snorted and started talking in Korean to each other while Kwan headed over to the trucks.

“You will be riding with us,” Min-jun said to me. “My father and my brothers will come, too. Perhaps another two men also.”

“The others are heading back to base?” I asked, and the oldest brother nodded.

“They will need as many men as possible to be safe,” he replied. “With one man unable to fight, they need to be prepared.”

The men bustled around, and Min-jun strode over to lift the injured man into the back of the truck. I tried to wring out some of the river water from my shirt as I made my way to the trucks, but I knew it wouldn’t be long until the sun dried them off anyway.

There were black, unmarked boxes that had been neatly stacked in the back of Kwan’s truck as Sun-hee and Tae climbed in. Min-jun jumped in beside them, and two other men slotted themselves into the remaining space.

“Looks like the blade man rides with me,” Kwan said as he opened the driver’s seat door.

I climbed into the passenger side, and Kwan shouted something to the other driver as we went our separate ways. The other truck sped back over the bridge, and I glanced back at the bloody river as Kwan started to drive.

“Maybe we should have evaporated that one, too,” Sun-hee said. “Does it work if you point it through water?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I guess we could have done it before it sank, but hopefully it won’t attract too much attention since it’s under the river now.”

“It will block the way for others too,” Tae added. “Then we won’t have any more trouble crossing the bridge.”

“We can only hope,” Kwan grunted.

The stone-faced Korean drove quickly away from the river, and the air continued to warm up as the sun crept higher into the sky.

The road opened up onto flatter land, and I could see right over to the startlingly blue ocean and up to the green hillsides covered in various types of trees. A mountain towered above the rest of the hills far off in the distance, and I craned my neck to try and get a better look.

“That is Seongsan,” Sun-hee said from behind me. “It is the biggest mountain in South Korea.”

“It is a volcano,” Tae corrected.

“It’s huge,” I said. “I’m guessing it’s dormant?”

“Not officially,” Sun-hee said. “It could still go off at any moment.”

“That would help with the dinosaurs, at least.” I shrugged, and the men behind me erupted into laughter.

The air had a sweet smell to it as we drove on, and I stared up at the various palm trees we passed which seemed sporadically planted along the roadside. I looked across to the glistening ocean and wished I had the chance to swim in it without the threat of more dino bastards hidden under the waves.

The flat land around us made it easy to keep an eye out for dinos, and the clear sky stopped any chance of flying beasts attacking sneakily.

“So, do the dinos mostly stay in the forests?” I asked. “By the time we left Ravenscar they only seemed interested in hanging out wherever the humans were.”

“Mostly,” Tae said. “But not exclusively. They know where the base is, I think they can smell us, but they don’t know how to get there.”

“I hope they don’t learn how to dig,” Sun-hee shivered. “They are getting smarter and smarter every day.”

The idea of dinosaurs learning how to make tunnels wasn’t something I wanted to focus too much on, and I drummed my fingers on the cool metal of the door as I hoped the girls had made progress with the radio.

“The village is close,” Kwan said after a few minutes. “We take care of people on the east side of the island.”

“It’s called Seongeup,” Sun-hee added. “It is very nice. Usually. When there are less dinosaurs.”

“That makes sense.” I grinned, and I’d started to feel much more relaxed around the family after our bloody experience at the river.

The road led us up a small hill, and as we drove down the other side, I could see a sprawl of thatched roof houses enclosed with a stone wall. As we approached, I could see there was an entrance way which sat open, underneath a red structure with a roof and viewing platform. I guessed it must have been where guards kept watch on the people who came and went through the village back before the world had fallen apart.

There looked like there were stretches of green garden space between the houses, and I felt a chill as I looked at the doorway that sat open for us.

“Is it meant to be open?” I asked quietly as I gripped my sharp gun.

“They leave it open for us.” Kwan nodded as we approached the entrance. “On days when they expect us.”

“The wall isn’t big enough to keep everything out,” I observed.

“But it’s good enough for the smaller beasts,” Sun-hee added.

“That is something,” I agreed.

Kwan drove through the gateway and then slowed down so one of the men could jump out to close it behind us. The tall wooden door closed with a slight creak, and I looked around at the village to see the streets were empty.

Kwan glanced to the side, and my stomach dropped as I looked around and saw blood stains on the house nearest us.

It didn’t look like anybody in the village was coming to meet us, and I had a horrible feeling there might not be anyone left.