Age of Monsters by John Schneider (a book to read txt) 📕

Jonah couldn't tell how many – but it was a lot.  The living mountains stared down into the basin.

And what might yet be lurking beyond the ridge?

Jonah looked around at the land-locked beach.  The Apocalypse had finally found them, and they had nowhere left to go.

Chapter 37

The rex stepped up onto shore, facing the big Carcharodont as it reared up on the hillside.

It recognized the challenge of a rival predator, activating its own territorial instinct.  But more than that, it understood on some more basic level, the conflict was larger than that.

The rex also recognized the skittering little rats crawling all over the big Carcharodont's back.  He recognized them as a foulness – like sulfur – something just beyond scent – a psychic stench.

Although the rex had no words for it, he also understood the role of the little creatures in this conflict – despite appearances, they were not fleas or lice, or even Savannah birds cleaning up parasites off a giant's back.

They were steering.

The big carcharodont advanced down the hill.  The moment it moved, the rest moved with it, and the Earth rumbled.

It was not just carnosaurs – the enemy had arrived in legion.  The rex could see towering sauropods, as well as an entourage of all the most dangerous herd-beasts, adorned in spikes, horns, and armor.

The rex had no idea by how much it was out-numbered, although he knew it was a significant measure.   Nor did it take into account its own already-ghastly, bleeding wounds.

Instead, it did the only thing it knew how – what evolution had bred into it.  The rex stamped its feet, ready to meet the assault head-on.

It was only peripherally aware of the tiny apes on the beach, who were now running towards the north ridge.

But the tiny apes stopped again when the treeline of the northern hillside began toppling over as well.

Now it was the Carcharodonts who paused.

If the rex could have smiled, it would have at that moment.

The pack of tyrannosaurs lined up along the opposite horizon – eyes glowing green.

His own gang had arrived.

The rex-pack almost seemed to pose on the hill, as if letting the moment sink in.

Then they began to move.

Standing on the beach, the rex turned its eyes back to the lead Carcharodont, even as the big carnosaur now hung deliberately back, letting its foot-soldiers move forward to engage instead.

The two factions faced each other – all attracted by the same psychic stench.

For one faction – perhaps just a touch more primitive – that stench was just base stimuli – the impetus to move forward – to bite, to stomp.  They couldn't even fairly be said to obey – they simply followed where they were led.

The other faction, however, was there to stamp that stench out like fire or stinging ants.

T. rex was the last of the dinosaurs to evolve – and could therefore be said to be somewhat more advanced – known to pair-bond – perhaps the bare-beginnings of the concepts of companionship and empathy.

Perhaps it even understood on some level, that this anomaly had made him and his kind a threat – that the enemy wanted them wiped-out.  He was a 'resistance' that could not be tolerated.

Or maybe it was just stubborn – a by-product of its own long-evolved T. rex socio-biology – nothing more than that.

Either way, it was enough.

The rex didn't know what was happening in other regions, or other continents – or all over the planet.  It didn't matter – he had his own fight right in front of him.

And on the hillside, as if in answer, the lead Carcharodont threw its head back and ROARED.

Its troops followed suit – and the bellowing thunder echoed through the mountains.

From the beach, the rex returned the challenge.

On the hill to the north, the rex-gang answered.

From the south ridge, the opposing army marched forward to meet them.

The big rex eyed the lead Carcharodont, which still stood back, allowing its fellows to charge past it down the hill.

The swarming little lizards crested on the big carnosaur's head and shoulders as if to watch – generals sending out their troops.

The first of the Carcharodonts hit the beach.

The rex attacked, with wide, gaping  jaws.

Chapter 38

Circling in orbit, it was nearly thirty-minutes before the EITS station's screens clicked back on.

At this point, Major Tom had no clue why his systems were clicking in and out – it was like a cat was dancing on some unseen keyboard.  He didn't know why the systems had gone down, he didn't know why they were up again.  Before, it had been just the military frequencies that had been blocked – this was everything.

But during that thirty minutes in the dark, he could still see the planet's surface out the window.

He could see the nukes hit – he could see them popping like bulbs on a Christmas tree.

Asia and Africa seemed to get it the worst.  Even from a distance, there was a strobing effect.

When the lights clicked back on, most of his screens had gone blank.

How many nukes had landed?  At least a dozen.  Probably some had not fired – it was impossible to tell.

Once his power kicked back on, Tom began linking back up with the surviving satellites, to see if he could get a telescope back up – maybe track some of the blasts through ambient radioactivity.

At least one missile had hit the North American continent – he had pinpointed the impact.

Southern California, fifty-miles east of Los Angeles.

Dead center of the San Andreas Fault.

Chapter 39

Lucas had been with the first wave in San Francisco.  Besides himself, his entire squadron had been wiped out.

This was worse.

In most wars, even