Trapped in Time 1: The Time Takers Read online

  Linnae looked at the packet and said, “This won’t cover my foot.”

  “Trust me on this, it will fit you.” Linnae went behind a stack of boxes and after a few moments stepped back into the room wearing the form fitting uniform. Andy and Arashi were stunned at how beautiful she was. Linnae saw their expressions, “What? Is something wrong?”

  Andy shook his head, “Linny, you are breathtakingly beautiful.”

  Linnae pirouetted and walked over and kissed Andy on the cheek, “You don’t look so bad yourself. By the way, these soles feel fabulous.”

  Arashi came out from behind the boxes and extended his arms. He took three quick side steps and immediately stopped. He smiled and looked at Linnae and Andy. He touched the pad in the forearms of the uniform, “This is good.”

  Andy nodded. The pads would save a lot of pain for an archer from the cable hitting their forearm. Andy took an arrowhead over and motioned Arashi to come closer. He took the arrowhead and tried to punch it through Linnae’s sleeve. Arashi took an arrow out of his quiver and tried to punch it through the packet that held the uniform. It punched right through. Andy looked at Linnae, “You don’t have to worry about putting the arrowheads on your shoulder to put an arrow in your quiver; they won’t penetrate this material.”

  Linnae went over and picked up her quiver and put it over her shoulder. It connected with the tab on her right shoulder and locked in place. “This outfit is made for an archer.” Andy nodded.

  Andy looked at Arashi and said in broken Latin, “Are you going out with us?” Arashi smiled and nodded. Andy looked at Linnae, “Are you ready to do this?”

  “Am I? You can answer that better than me.”

  “I think you’ve come a long way and you can hold your own; just stay close to Arashi and me.”

  “What happens if there are ten of those giants outside?”

  “We take a shot and run.”

  “That sounds like a plan.”

  • • •

  By the end of the next day, Linnae was able to quick fire ten arrows in eighteen seconds into a two foot target from twenty yards. After the evening language session was over, Linnae followed Andy back to the wall. He looked at her and she said, “Tonight I’m staying with you.”

  “Are you sure about this?”

  “I’ve been sure since the first day. It’s you who had doubts.”

  Andy stared at her and slowly nodded, “You were right.”

  “About what.”

  “The better I get to know you, the more valuable you become to me.” She put her hand on his arm and they went into the bow room and closed the door. The community watched them and knew that Linnae was going out to confront one of the giant beasts in the morning. Most of them expected her to die in the effort. Maxus almost asked Andy to call it off but knew the community needed to see if a woman could be effective against those creatures. He went to bed and his wife said, “I want to be able to see what happens.” Maxus nodded.

  • • •

  Andy and Linnae were up early and Andy had Akira with them in the bow room so there would not be any difficulty in understanding each other. Andy looked at the two and said, “These beasts are going to tower over you. If we were level with their head, a kill shot would be much easier; hitting it between the eyes will kill it. However, the eyes are going to be a long way above us and the dinosaur’s jaws are going to be between us and its eyes.”

  Linnae’s nervousness was obvious, “So what do we do?”

  Andy looked at Arashi and said as Akira translated, “We are going to hit them in the joint that connects the lower leg to the upper leg. That should bring it down. You will deliver the kill shot once you see the top of its head.”

  “What do I do if one of them makes it through you and rushes up on me?”

  Andy tilted his head and slowly shook it, “It will probably roar and come in with an open mouth to snap you up. If you can fire an arrow through the roof of its mouth into its brain…”

  “Oh, is that all. I thought I was going to have to do something hard. Are you out of your mind? That shot is impossible.”

  Andy took Linnae’s hand, “Look, if it comes to that, the Allosaurus’ height will work against it. You will be looking up into its mouth as it’s coming at you. You can make the shot if you can control your nerves.”

  “Easy for you to say.”

  “No it’s not. That shot will be hard for us as well. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Andy looked at Arashi as he pulled Linnae between them. He pointed at her, “We will keep her between us.” Arashi nodded. Andy lifted his arms, “Let’s take some time to loosen up.” The three archers went to the target room and began doing stretching exercises. After fifteen minutes, Linnae picked up her bow and started firing practice arrows at the makeshift target. Andy watched her and was proud of the progress she had made in such a short period of time. She had worked on perfecting the archery techniques eighteen hours a day for two weeks. Most archers weren’t able to fire an arrow every two seconds and hit inside a two foot target every time. She would be dangerous out to fifty yards. Maintaining that accuracy over longer distances was going to take a long time with lots of practice.

  Linnae had an athletic body and she moved gracefully. She came to the training with natural talents…but those Allosaurus would come with a deadliness gained over twenty million years of evolution. Andy wondered what other nightmares awaited them outside the cave. Andy quick fired several arrows into the bull’s eye and said, “Let’s go get this over with.”

  “Should we eat something first?”

  Andy lifted the left corner of his mouth, “I don’t want to give any more than necessary to them. Besides, throwing up is not something I want to do. We’ll eat afterwards.”

  Linnae said, “If there is an afterwards.” Andy shrugged and led them out of the target room toward the cave entrance. As they approached the corridor to the opening, they saw the majority of the community had gathered at the stone wheel. Most of those close to the entrance were women. Linnae saw them looking at her and their worry was obvious. When they reached the wheel, Maxus’ wife stepped forward and gave Linnae a hug. Linnae looked in her eyes and saw no matter what happened, she was going to be a fighter. Linnae smiled and returned the hug. Andy looked at the Samurai and Vikings standing at the wheel and nodded. The three archers pulled arrows out of their quivers almost faster than the eye could follow. Maxus and Togawa were surprised at the speed Linnae notched the arrow. The wheel moved away from the opening and Andy and Arashi stepped forward. Linnae joined them after a momentary hesitation. Nothing appeared at the opening and Andy stepped forward to the edge of the opening; many of the others followed them beyond the wheel. The Vikings and Samurai stayed at the wheel in the event it needed to be closed quickly.

  • • •

  Andy looked out at the landscape beyond the opening and was amazed at the view. The area in front of the cave was clear and appeared to be mostly sandy soil. He looked to the right and left and saw the entrance was located in the wall of a sheer cliff that ran into the distance on both sides of the opening. That was good news. The only way for trouble to come at them was from in front of them.

  He looked further out from the cave and saw the land sloped downhill toward a lush forest, running parallel to the cliff, about a hundred and ninety yards away. Flowing through the middle of the forest was a slow moving river. He looked to the north and saw a giant Brachiosaurus standing close to the river, pulling foliage off ferns next to the bank. The remains of what the Allosaurus had been eating several days earlier were no longer there. From the cave’s elevated position he could see a vast plain in the distance beyond the forest with thousands of dinosaurs scattered on it. He heard a distant roar and looked off to the left and saw three of the Allosaurus attacking another large dinosaur in the distance. He knew for certain now; they hunted in packs.

  He looked to the right and on the horizon he saw a mountain with smoke rising out of it. The
volcano was not erupting at the moment but it was active. The cave entrance was about three feet above the clearing and Andy jumped down. He saw the bones of the Allosaurus he had killed the first day had been moved more than fifty yards from the cave. Andy wondered what was big enough to move a thirty nine foot, four ton, Allosaurus. He saw that the bones had been picked clean; nothing remained but white bones. Linnae and Arashi jumped down and followed Andy over to the skeleton.

  Andy pulled a sabre out of a scabbard over his left shoulder and raised it over his head. He slammed the blade into the skull of the dead dinosaur and the skull made a cracking sound. He swung again and the skull split. Andy went to the skull and grabbed the arrow that was embedding in the back of the skull and twisted it out. He checked it carefully and sighted down it. He looked at Linnae and Arashi and tilted his head as he put the arrow in his quiver. The titanium arrows were tough. This one had survived the kill.

  Suddenly, they heard a loud roar about two hundred yards to the south. It came from the forest and they knew it was the same roar they heard in the cave. Another roar blasted out a hundred yards to the north and the three archers looked at each other. Andy said, “They’re coming. Spread out and give yourself some room.” Andy moved away from the skeleton and put ten yards between him and Linnae. Arashi moved the opposite direction and the archers were lined up twenty yards in front of the cave. Andy and Arashi sat down in the sand and Linnae looked at Andy like he was crazy. Andy smiled slightly, “You need to save your energy and start trying to calm your mind.”

  Linnae slowly sat down and put the arrow back in her quiver. She placed her bow across her lap in the same manner Andy and Arashi had done and started trying to get control of her panic. She tried to breathe but was having difficulty. Andy said, “Think of a song you like and sing it in your mind.”

  Linnae tried to respond but her voice didn’t work. She closed her eyes and remembered a lullaby her mother used to sing to her. Two more roars erupted from the forest adding to the first two they had heard. Linnae jumped but forced herself to focus on the lullaby. In a few moments she was singing it quietly to herself. She forced her breathing to slow and she began thinking that she really didn’t have a reason to be afraid. She was already living on borrowed time and now she was given an opportunity to use the skills she had worked so hard to master for the last two weeks. She took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. She knew how good Andy and Arashi were and she knew she could depend on them to protect her. “Are you ready?”

  Linnae looked at Andy who had his eyes fixed on the forest and nodded, “Thank you, Andy.”

  Andy glanced at her, “For what?”

  “For this; I’ve never felt more alive than I do at this moment.”

  “Tell me that after this is over.”

  Linnae laughed and stood up with Andy and Arashi as they saw the first Allosaurus stick its head out of the forest. Arashi pulled an arrow and fired it instantly. The arrow hit the Allosaurus in the snout. It would have hit it between the eyes but the beast had raised its head an instant before the arrow arrived. The roar was deafening.

  • • •

  Maxus watched the three archers and saw the beast was much larger than he thought. He had seen the head of the dinosaur in the cave’s opening but he didn’t get a good look at its body. It was the largest animal he had ever seen. The one that was hit with the arrow was passed anger; it was enraged. He tried to call out to the three and tell them to get back into the cave but the roars drowned out his shouts. He shook his head and that’s when four of the giant dinosaurs charged out of the forest.

  • • •

  Andy pulled the bow and fired at the closest Allosaurus’ left leg. The arrow hit above the joint and he had another arrow on the way in an instant. It hit the right leg in the joint and the giant dinosaur stumbled to the ground. Linnae quick fired two arrows into the top of its head and turned and fired another arrow into the face of the Allosaurus that Arashi had dropped. It fought to get up and Linnae hit it between the eyes with another arrow and it fell back to the ground.

  Andy fired at the other Allosaurus coming from the right and hit it perfectly in the right leg where it bent. The giant stumbled and fell on its side. Linnae fired three arrows into the Allosaurus’ face; one of them penetrated into the large creature’s brain and killed it. Arashi killed the fourth Allosaurus without assistance. It was close enough for him to hit it in the neck and the arrow severed the spinal cord.

  • • •

  Julia left Maxus’ side and walked forward to the edge of the cave opening to watch Linnae. She was amazed at her fearlessness and how accurate she was with the bow. She shook her head and caught something in the corner of her vision. She looked to the right and saw a giant Allosaurus running along the cliff wall toward the three archers. It was silent and it was almost on top of them. It had exited the forest several hundred yards north of the cave and was coming at the archers from behind; they didn’t see it coming. Julia screamed.

  • • •

  Linnae heard the scream and turned; the Allosaurus was a giant and it was less than fifteen yards away and moving at top speed. Linnae pulled an arrow, nocked it on the bow string and fired up into the giant jaws descending toward her. As soon as she released the arrow, she rolled to the left and kept rolling. The giant’s head turned to follow her and then the dinosaur fell forward on its neck. Two more arrows from Andy and Arashi hit the creature in the head but it was already dead. Linnae’s arrow penetrated the reptile’s upper jaw and cut through its brain. Linnae kept rolling as the giant crashed to the ground and barely missed falling on her.

  Andy rushed over and pulled her up. Linnae dropped her bow and held him tight. Andy heard Arashi shout, “Curo!” Pay attention. Andy looked at the forest and saw five more Allosaurus lined up in the tree line. Linnae looked with him and quickly bent down, picked up her bow and pulled an arrow. The largest Allosaurus in the group took a step forward and roared. It shook its head and all three archers saw its rage. The other four giants stepped out of the tree line with the leader and it was clear they were preparing to charge.

  Suddenly, the leader raised its head and appeared to sniff the air. It looked to the south and issued a loud grunt. All five of the giant dinosaurs turned and ran out of the trees toward the north. They headed for the cliff wall and ran away at high speed.

  Andy knew there was trouble coming. The Allosaurus were scared by something that was coming from the South; anything that frightened the giant killers was not something he wanted to meet out in the open. “Get to the cave, now!” Andy and Arashi began quickly backing up keeping their eyes on the tree line as Linnae turned and sprinted toward the opening. She was assisted over the three foot high lip and she turned and watched Andy and Arashi quickly backing toward the entrance. Joshua said, “What’s wrong?”

  Linnae pulled an arrow and said, “I don’t know.”

  Andy and Arashi were five yards away from the opening when a black wave of giant dinosaurs came rushing out of the tree line. Andy and Arashi dropped six of the charging reptiles at the front of the rush and Arashi yelled, “Fuga!” Andy turned, took two steps and jumped up into the cave entrance. He turned and shot one of the large dinosaurs coming at Arashi from the left as Linnae hit another coming from the right in the neck. It stopped and tried to grab the arrow with its arms.

  Andy yelled, “Get the wheel moving and everyone get inside.” He shot two more of the dark colored reptiles charging in from the left and yelled, “Fuga, Arashi.”

  The Japanese archer was a killing machine. Eight dark dinosaurs were on the sand in front of him either dead or having death spasms. The archer was lucky; most of the charging dinosaurs fell on the dead bodies of the Allosaurus. He jumped up and ran for the opening as two of the fleet creatures came running up on him. Andy dropped one and Linnae hit the other two times before it fell. “GET IN THE CAVE!!” Linnae turned and ran through the small opening sideways and fell on the floor. Andy and Arashi killed tw
o more of the attackers and ran through the opening. The Samurai and Vikings began pushing the stone wheel to complete closing the entrance when a giant head filled with sharp teeth jammed into small gap at the top. Linnae had fallen to the floor when she jumped through the opening. She was sitting on the floor and she pulled an arrow out of her quiver and fired it into the creature’s face in less than a second. The head disappeared from the opening and the wheel moved and covered the entrance.

  Maxus looked at Linnae and held out his hand to help her up. He shook his head and said, “Mirus.”

  Joshua said, “That means wonderful, Linnae.”

  “I know that; I’ve been paying attention in class.”

  Maxus’ wife rushed forward and hugged Linnae. She started speaking quickly and Joshua translated, “Your skill and bravery are an example for us all. I admire you and hope I can be as brave as you were out there among the beasts.”

  Linnae returned her hug and said, “Gratias tibi ago, Julia.”

  Julia smiled. Maxus came up and gave Linnae a hug as well. Joshua looked at Andy, who was sitting on the floor trying to catch his breath. “What were those creatures? Even the large dinosaurs ran from them.”

  Andy continued breathing hard and said, “Well…I have good news….and I have…bad news.”

  Everyone in the cave was listening to the exchange and Togawa said in Latin, “What is the good news?”

  “We’re not a hundred and forty million years in the past…like I thought.”

  Joshua said, “Then when are we?”

  “We’re ninety million years in the past at the early part of the Cretaceous Age.”

  Akira said, “Well if that’s the good news, what’s the bad.”

  “I recognized that last dinosaur that attacked us.” Andy’s breathing had slowed and he took a deep breath. “It was named Utah Raptor and it was the largest member of the Raptor genus. Most people in my time thought the most dangerous dinosaur was a Velociraptor, because it was highly intelligent and hunted in packs. However, they were wrong. A movie called Jurassic Park portrayed them as about eight feet tall and twenty feet long. The ones who made the movie took a lot of liberties. In reality, Velociraptors were not much bigger than a large dog or small child. They were descendants of the Utah Raptor that you just saw; Utah Raptors grew to twenty five feet long and weighed a thousand pounds. This was an instance where a larger ancestor actually evolved into something smaller. However, the Utah Raptor was located in the northern hemisphere so we know where we are on the planet. They lived at the beginning of the Cretaceous Period.”