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

watched the mountains literally split the continent down the center, he now recalled all those topography maps, with thermal highlighting.

Kristie said she'd seen the lizards along her trek – and what she'd thought had been a military munitions unit, setting up seismic charges.

Tom was willing to bet those detonations were being set up for months, and no military, no human hand, had anything to do with it.

All those models, he thought, with thermal hotspots highlighted.

Detonation points.  Spread out for five-thousand miles.

The semi-dormant volcano range was rumbling back to life.  The skies filled with belching clouds of black smoke, from simultaneous eruptions along the entire length of the chain.

Circling in orbit, following the lifeboat's pre-programed path, Tom could see it all.

Tom tried to imagine what was happening on the ground.  So far, his hail-frequency on the lifeboat had drawn no response.

He wondered what was waiting for him down there.  He wondered if Rhodes would be able to find him once he touched down.

He hoped he landed in water.  He also hoped there weren't any giant sharks or crocodile-toothed reptiles.

Perhaps more than anything, Tom hoped he'd get to meet Kristie, who'd been like a snapshot on the wall of his solitary prison cell for almost a year.

The first flames touched the metal of his lifeboat as the pod began re-entry.

After more than eighteen months in space, Major Tom was coming home to Earth.

Chapter 63

The upheaval lasted for the better part of a day.

It was doubtful anyone would ever be able to catalog the total number of eruptions along the entire chain, but the sky had grown nearly black with soot – black as sack-cloth made of hair.

Wildfires ran rampant, and when it was done, a new fault split the continental United States down the middle.

In spots, the broken chasm was separated by miles.  All along the break was devastation.

Perched on the east side of the breach, Caesar looked out where the abrupt new canyon had fallen out of the earth.

Across the divide, staring back at him, was Trix.

Velma and the last two pussycats were gone, lost somewhere in the destruction.

Junior hovered at Trix' ankles, mugging at Caesar like a belligerent wolf-pup.

Shanna's aura had faded, but it was not gone.  Caesar looked to the west.

He wondered if the rex would follow.

For his part, Caesar had left his tribe behind, and he had no idea how far the seismic upheaval might have spread, or how his people might have fared through it all.  That was where his first duty lay.

But he believed he would see Shanna again.

For now, however, the west belonged to the rex.

Trix eyed him back – a dominant pack-leader, full of pregnant hormones – perched on her own side of the divide – simultaneously accepting those terms and claiming the entire region.

The big female rex let out a long trumpeting bellow that sent the message clearly enough.

That's your place.  This is mine.

Caesar hooted back – just one parting taunt, before turning and disappearing into the tattered brush.

Trix stood at the opposite peak a moment longer.

And because tyrannosaurs don't think, she just followed her first impulse.

She still felt the light, somewhat more distant now, but having no further concern, Trix began to follow.

Junior tagged along at her heels.

Chapter 64

Maverick took them west as the wall of volcanic ash rose like a cloaked reaper, bigger than the sky.

Still latched in the co-pilot's seat, Mark cautiously unclasped one hand to point forward.

“I was on my way to the coast,” he said.  “That was my home.”

Maverick glanced back to the others with a shrug.

Shanna had nodded.  “I like that,” she said. “Sold.”

“First star to the left and straight on 'till morning,” Maverick agreed.

Rosa tended to the deposed pilot – Bradbury, according to his badge.  A young guy, he eyed Rosa doubtfully while she dabbed the blood off his lip, even as Cameron held him good-naturedly at gunpoint.

Johnson and Cooper, the two accosted gunners, found a decidedly less-friendly face as Allison leveled her pistol at the both of them.

At one point, Johnson shifted his feet, as if coiling to make a move, and Bud had uttered one sardonic chuckle, shaking his head mildly.

Cold-bloodedly deliberate, Allison pulled the hammer back on her pistol, even as she bounced Lucas on one knee.  Johnson remained compliantly still.

Before long, they were passing over a new range of mountains.

Many of the peaks along the Northwest Cascades had already experienced minor eruptions over the last year, and most remained active, burping periodic smoke.

But the initial break-point had been almost eleven months ago, after San Andreas had broken away, and most of the local peaks were currently winter white.

Further west, the Cascade mountains gave way to what had once been a fertile valley.

Like everywhere, seismic upheaval had left its mark, not to mention giant trampling feet.

The terrain was scarred.  New canyons existed where none had before, and entire swaths of forest had been stamped out and burned.

But this one little valley seemed largely untouched.

“There's a commercial airport near here,” Mark directed.  “We can refuel.”

That almost got Johnson on his feet, but for the immediate hammer-cock of Allison's pistol.

“We've got to stick to the high-ground,” Johnson objected.  “The valley floor's not safe.”

Behind him, Shanna shook her head.

“Not here,” she said.  “Not now.”

The air-park was easy to spot among the surrounding farms.  Maverick circled them down, cussing at the unfamiliar back rotor, as the chopper's feet landed heavily on the runway.

But they at least settled to a stop without flipping over.

Wilkes and Garner slid open the cabin door.

Garner turned to Johnson and Cooper, holding up their confiscated weapons.

“So,” he said, “you with us, or do we shoot you?”

Johnson and Cooper exchanged glances, then back at Allison's levered pistol, and shrugged, reaching for the rifles.

The four troops fanned out of the chopper, weapons drawn, forming a perimeter as the others deboarded.

Sitting up abruptly, just on the other side of the tarmac where it had been dozing in the sun, was a young adult male T. rex.

Its head cocked in their direction, atilt