Kingdom of Monsters by John Schneider (latest novels to read .TXT) 📕

there helpless, front row to a death fight in her honor, Shanna covered her eyes – a single tear rolled down her cheek.

A second later, Allison did the same, followed by sniffles from Lucas.

It wasn't fear.  Rosa could feel it herself.  It was deep and painful regret.

The world itself seemed to quake as the beasts came crashing together, the echo ricocheting through the canyon, their enraged bellows drowning out the storm.

Chapter 49

This was not like the battle of Congo and Big Rex in New York.  Brutus had never seen a tyrannosaur in his life, and the rogue had never once encountered a giant ape.

Yet, neither questioned what set them at each other's throats.

For the rogue, it was the instinctual response to a rival.

For Brutus, who was never the smartest of apes, it wasn't much more than that.

But neither of them had experienced each other's weapons.

The rogue's first strike was very near Brutus' last.  The massive jaws lunged at him like a running tackle zeroing in on a runner.

On pure reflex, Brutus dodged, catching the rex' head in his brawny arms.

Now, the rex discovered the ape's own advantage as he found his jaws clamped shut.

With few other options than pure explosive power, the rogue pushed forward with its powerful hind-legs, slamming Brutus into the cliff wall.

At the very same moment, the rest of the ape-troop descended into the canyon, colliding with the pussycats, crashing together with impact enough to shake the entire mountain.

Grape Ape was not as nimble as Brutus, and Josie latched onto his wrist as he attempted to ensnare her jaws, sinking her armor-piercing teeth deep.

The giant gorilla screamed, reflexively pulling away, sinking the teeth deeper.

Big Joe came to his aid, smashing Josie across the skull with an uprooted tree.

Josie responded to the blow by clamping harder and shaking her head like a bulldog, biting Grape Ape's hand clean away.  The giant ape screamed, rolling away, holding the spouting stump.

Big Joe struck the female rex again, even as the other two pussycats pounced on the wounded Grape Ape, bearing him to the ground.

Konga had joined Brutus against the rogue, leaping upon the giant rex' broad back.  All three beasts crashed together against the canyon walls, breaking repeated avalanches off into the river.

The rogue thrashed wildly, like a bull trying to gore two rodeo-clowns at once.  Brutus clung desperately, holding the deadly jaws shut, with Konga simply hanging on for dear life.

Josie swallowed Grape Ape's severed paw, turning her attention to Big Joe.  The giant ape brandished his uprooted tree, this time thrusting it forward like a dagger, catching the female rex in her forward-facing eye.  Josie howled, backing-up and nearly tripping over the pussycats as they tore Grape Ape apart.

Big Joe pounced on the advantage, charging Josie's unguarded legs, sending her tumbling to the canyon floor.

Joe brought the tree down again, this time aiming the sharpened edge for the downed tyrannosaur's throat.  For Josie, it would have been over, except for the two pussycats who turned from Grape Ape's twitching corpse and attacked.

This was not predator-prey action – this was clan-warfare.

The jagged tree-trunk missed its mark on Josie's jugular, but still slashed her throat deeply.  Bleeding badly, she staggered to her feet, while Big Joe turned to engage both pussycats as they circled, aggressively, jaws agape.

Brutus felt his grip on the rogue's jaws slipping.  Bucking like a wild bronco, the rex threw Konga off his back, leaving Brutus wrestling the king tyrannosaur alone.

Konga landed hard, nearly at the feet of the pussycats.  The two females immediately pounced, and would have sunk their teeth into the big ape's unguarded hide, if not for Big Joe charging suddenly forward, tackling both dragon beasts at once, sending them all three tumbling, while Konga scrambled to his feet.

Brutus felt himself lifted and slammed into the canyon wall.

This time the impact broke his grip.

With a grunt, Brutus threw the suddenly loose jaws aside, slipping clear, and circling back out into the center of the canyon.

The rex turned, its eyes blinking with a green glow that Brutus knew was reflected in his own.

He looked around.  Grape Ape was clearly dead, although Josie also looked worse for wear, stumbling, and apparently blinded in one eye.

Konga and Big Joe squared-off with the two slowly advancing pussycats.

And for Brutus, the rogue.

As it should be.

Brutus beat his chest.  This was what he was good for.

Caesar could be a philosopher all he wanted.

Brutus was in it to be king.  That's what alphas did.

A sentiment clearly shared by the rex itself.

With a roar to cower the thunder, the rogue charged again.

Chapter 50

Mark was a dozen steps behind Caesar as the big ape burst from the trees, out onto the drop-off overlooking the cliff.

Once they were out in the open, the first thing that assaulted them was the rain, followed by blinding flashes of lightning and the roar of thunder.

But then, as Mark hiked up behind Caesar, they beheld the spectacle of the battle in the canyon below.

For several seconds, Mark found himself staring in awe.  Even Caesar let out a subdued moan.

Then a voice called up from below.

“Hey!” Mr. Wilson shouted.  “Is there an idiot named Maverick up there with you?”

“Right here, old man,” Maverick shouted, jogging up with Garner and Wilkes on his heels.  Puffing, as he brought the rear, was Cameron.

“Jesus,” Garner said as they looked down into the canyon.

They could feel thunder of the battle in their feet, reverberating up through the ground as the impact tremors of their footfalls shook the entire mountain.

The view was... surreal – flashes of lightning cast a strobing effect like old-time stop-motion puppetry.

“Well?” Maverick said, looking down to the ledge below.  “Any ideas?”

Caesar grunted, simply hopping down over the edge.

“Holy shit!” came Mr. Wilson's voice, wafting up, followed immediately by “Wait!  It's alright!” from Shanna.

Caesar's approach, however, proved a little too direct as the big ape's weight pulled at the vines supporting the dangling chopper, yanking the roots free.

Perched over the hapless survivors on the ledge, the chopper